Mass Effect  How the fate plays us
by Sandbox47
Summary: This is a full story of ME, ME2 and ME3 that starts at 2177 and ends with the death of the Reapers. It is NOT centered around Shepard but around Min, though the characters you know and love will be in it.
1. Prologue

2177 – Akuze

The sun was extremely hot, as usual, and glaring down through the scattered clouds upon the people that were brave enough to leave the cool of the air conditioned buildings. The only people who were outside and who didn't show a sign of sweat were the Alliance soldiers, their armour providing perfect air condition for them. They were patrolling the borders of the main camp, watching out for something. I didn't know what because I've lived here all my life and never seen anything that might require a soldier to get rid of it.

As I am a student engineer, not by choice, I am not too familiar with the Alliance tasks here. I knew that they paid us a sum of money for the research we did here. And that from time to time they would send people over to examine the colony. Once a year more colonists would come to Darya, the main colony here.

Though the days here aren't as long as Earth days, or so they say and all the tech seems to agree because of the updates we have to run every time we receive a shipment of tech or anything else with a watch, they _feel_ far longer. The relentless sun sets for only seven hours until it's back with it's annoying glaring. The shield that was set up to filter the UV rays did it's job though because most of the colonists, me included weren't tanned. I am pale but with black hair and blue eyes. Quite a weird sight to see for whenever I catch a glimpse of me in the mirror.

Mother was, at the moment, in the Mako, fixing it after the last excursion to the coast. This particular Mako had driven down into the water and got it's battery burned, along with a few other circuits.

'Do you need help?' I asked, hoping for an unlikely no.

'Sure. Could you check the barrier routine? I don't know how it's affected by my tweaking.' she replied lightly, her torso hidden under the huge rover.

I checked my omni-tool.

'You've locked the system, mother.' I answered, rolling my eyes. 'I'm not going to hack it for you.'

'Oh, right! Sure, wait a moment.' she said, getting up.

He face and arms were covered in black grease.

'Wow. What happened to that thing?' I asked, surprised.

'After the battery cut off the barriers collapsed, opening a few leaks that we'd been keeping sealed with the barrier.' she replied. 'So I'm patching them with, ah, stuff.' she shrugged.

I just shook my head. Though the regulations were clear on what you were allowed to do with the Alliance owned Makos few colonists really cared. Scrap metal is cheap and abundant.

'Alright, I'm online.' I said as the rover's drive appeared on the holographic display of my omni-tool. 'And this is weird. You can touch the Mako?'

'Yes. Why?' she frowned.

'The readings say that the barriers are on full strength. You shouldn't be able to touch the metal. I'll kill the power to it and start a C-protocol to keep it from blowing up.'

She frowned and laughed.

'That's odd. Get on it. I have two more leaks and then I'm done anyways.' she said, submerging herself under the rover again.

I pushed a few buttons haphazardly until the power regulation standards were showing and then had it search for protocol settings. They were all empty.

'Ah, mother.' I said in an urgent voice. 'If I were you I'd stand back. When the power died then it _really_ died. There is no record of safety protocols for it at all. You guys butchered the Mako.' I shook my head in mock sadness.

If any other teenager had said that my mother, or any other adult, would have come to double check my findings. But I was top of the class, probably as good as the teachers if not better and so my mother got up and simply allowed me to make the changes.

I entered the local protocol settings and restricted the power flows to the main three barrier generators, making an equal division of power to them. Removed the restrictions and gave power back to the rest of the rover. A few tweaks with the power routes that were off and the final restrictions.

'Done.' I said after a moment of double checking that I hadn't ruined anything. 'The leaks are covered now too, though.'

She shrugged and threw the working gloves into a bin.

'Oh no.' she said, smiling. 'Whatever will I do with all the fifteen minutes of spare time? Should I sleep, or should I eat?'

'Don't go to work.' I said simply. 'They won't notice.'

'Yeah, because Sanders won't mind at all that his favourite rag-doll isn't there.' she rolled her eyes. 'And we need the creds.'

'We _need_ the creds? Are we in some debt?' I asked, worried. I didn't like debts because they had a funny way of growing without you purchasing anything.

'Nope. But there is a colonist enlistment form at the station.' she said with a glint in her eyes. 'On Eden Prime. And your father is going to be sent off to Eden Prime for his next post.'

I smiled, genuinely surprised.

'For how long?' I asked, getting down from my perch on the toolboxes.

'Which?'

'For how long is he stationed there?'

'They need a force of Alliance soldiers there for permanent residence. Two hundred in total. He'll be one of them.' she said and then added with infliction. '_Permanent_.'

'Great! I hear that they have great beaches. And no UV filters. A paradise.'

'You'll still be studying and I'll still be working, you know.' she said, warningly. 'It is still a colony and that needs a lot of work to keep running.'

'Well... yes. But they are way ahead of any colony here on Akuze.' I said. 'They can't need that much more. It's just construction and agriculture stuff that needs to be done.'

'And who'll be doing it, I wonder.' said mother, looking at me intently.

'The hillbillies. They aren't much good for anything else, might as well dig and shove.' I shrugged.

She threw her hands up in exasperation.

'What?' I asked. 'You said you wanted me to be an engineer. If I start digging stuff I'll make you unhappy. And I don't want to make you unhappy.' I said as innocently as I could manage.

'I forgot. I'm talking to a child here.' she groaned. Then she looked at her watch and groaned again. 'I'm gonna be late. See you at dinner. Buy a pizza, I'm sick of potatoes.'

I nodded and she left. I looked at the watch too. My class had started two hours ago. I wondered whether I should fake an illness and stay at home. It seemed like a very compelling thought.

Sighing I started off towards the school building, which was an old garage for tanks. As the colony had expanded the tanks couldn't get through the buildings so they had to make a new one and we got the garage as school. It was a rather large building with twenty classrooms and a very confusing and twisting corridor where things were very neat at all times. No one had the time or energy to ruin anything and no one who was careless got a scholarship.

I should probably tell you that I am an eighteen years old girl. Both of my parents are from Japan, their parents being amongst the first colonist to depart the station at Singapore to Eden Prime. My parents were only toddlers back then.

I'm not sure how we ended up on a dreadful place like Akuze, but now that the prospect of leaving it was real, I realized that I would miss it. Maybe.

'You are late!' exclaimed professor Madin as I enter the classroom. 'No, not even late. You are terribly untimely!' he said, his three chins wobbling with outrage.

'Sorry for being late, professor.' I said, not meeting anyone's eyes.

'You should be!' he exclaimed. 'Preposterous!'

I sat down and did my best to ignore him completely. I didn't like him and I knew that he loathed me. Few teachers liked me, mainly because I've been putting them down in class a lot. Doesn't mean that they haven't put me down as well, they are after all bookworms.

'Hmph. Well, as I was saying,' he continued whatever he had started. 'The drives one would see on a frigate will always be bigger than on any transport because of the increased power usage withing the mass effect cores. In theory, we would be able to power a ship of a size that is ten times bigger than any of ours as long as it lacks the Fusion Atros shielding. But without it the ships won't last in fire fights.'

'But I thought that ships were only equipped with barriers, because of the speed they travel at makes shields less effective, burning up in gases and oxides.' I said, raising my hand belatedly.

'Which is what I explained before you entered.' said the professor smugly. 'The two-ordered frigates of the turian fleet, which make up a fifth of their fleet, aren't able to enter FTL and can't sustain a mass transfer through a relay for long enough to make a significant difference. Instead they are defensive vessels that orbit the planet in question and are damn effective at beating down raiders and pirates. The tow vessels of the salarians are used when they hit another planet or when relocated.'

I nodded and pretended to ignore him again. This wasn't that important, I'd never seen a turian in real life, only in vids, and even if I ever did manage to get on board one of those ships I'd be kicked out immediately, unless I was taken prisoner.

There was the [thirty years war]_(check sources for length of FC-war =P)_ that was still fresh in everyone's memory but that I had managed not to be born during. The way everyone retold it, the war sounded a lot more like humans bumping into a wall and belatedly realizing that it was intelligent. At least that was our impact on the turians.  
Their fleets had nearly wiped out ours in the first strike and any later strike was usually in their favour.

Eventually they simply sent their fleet home and the Destiny Ascension had come to welcome our kind into the Galaxy and to make peace between our races.

The turians were cool about it and the humans didn't want to lose without compensation for so a diplomatic battles ensued and as far as I know is still going on.

There was one outstanding person in the war, some general Owen that had beaten five turian warships with his one frigate and went on to save lesser fleets from annihilation. Or so the old people and the history books said.

I was brought out of my reverie as my bench began to vibrate. A few seconds later I realized that I was vibrating as well. And so was the room.

'Ah... hang on, I'll go and check on what's going on.' said professor Madin. He wobbled out of the room.

The vibration stopped for a moment and then resumed stronger than before. I hear a crash and the rumble of earth.

'_Forget this, I'm leaving to check up on mother_.' I decided, getting up and out of the classroom. If this had something to do with their research...

And then I saw what was going on from the window in the corridor. The professor was standing there, frozen in shock. It startled me as he started and began running as fast as he could, shouting at the top of his lungs.

'Thresher maws are attacking! Evacuate now! Thresher maws are attacking!'

And they were. Huge worm-like creatures erupted from the ground, dozens of them, and destroyed buildings and tanks with their massive strikes.

Soldiers were taking cover behind prepared barricades but no barricade would stand against such creatures. One strike with the forehead and a squad of Alliance soldiers dead. Another strike and another squad dead.

I saw one woman running from cover to cover, ignoring the orders of her commanders. I gasped as thresher maw struck at her but she was well out of the way before the strike connected with the ground. With an impressive display of acrobatics she climbed a ruined building and shouted something. One of the thresher maws looked about at her and as it did so she fired from a grenade launcher. She hit it in the eye, blowing up it's brains and something gooey and disgusting leaked from the eye hole. The skull remained intact with no apparent signs of damage from the explosion. No one else seemed to notice what she had done though because they were too busy running for their lives or to try and kill them. Several of the things were now blind in one or more of the eyes but the bullets made little difference.

One more fell, after a lot of intense fire but more were erupting from the ground and the soldiers' numbers were dwindling way too quickly. The tanks were completely useless as they were all destroyed and the few that weren't were stuck under rubble. The shuttles tried to attack from the air but the thresher maws were spitting some kind of acid that melted through the barriers and down to the plating, killing the engines eventually. In the brief moment that I watched, two had already gone down.

'_Mother_.' I thought in panic and started running. But my mind was mainly on the creatures. I didn't kid myself that we had a chance. That brave Alliance chick had been lost in the crowd after her daring manoeuvre and I couldn't be sure that she was even alive. The formation of the creatures had been very gathered, much like a pack and they were working outwards.

A plan came to me and I began counting. The soldier were holding, if dying in the process. I knew of many things that could make a blast powerful enough to reach them. And I knew what could make a blast effective enough to kill them.

As soon as I left the school building I ran into someone. It was that Alliance soldier that had blown up the brains of one thresher maw. I'd need her. My plan involved going past the creatures.

'Hey, wait!' I shouted as she had resumed her fast running.

'No time!' she replied.

'I know how to stop them!' I shouted.

That brought her to a reflexive stop.

'Talk fast!' she said, impatience and fury mixed in her eyes.

'We get the tainted chems and the turret tower and blow them up in the centre of these monsters!' I said as urgently as I could, gesticulating to show an explosion. She started turning away.

'That would take too long, and wouldn't kill them.' she said dismissively.

'It would! The tainted chemical solution is a powerful acid that the researchers use for removing matter from around stuff like platinum and iridium! And I can control a worker's shuttle as easily as you wield that that grenade launcher!' I shouted over the noise of gunfire and the shrieks of thresher maws.

She thought as quickly as she could.

'Fine, lead the way!' she said.

As I began running towards the thresher maws she grabbed my arm.

'I didn't mean go and die! What the hell?'

'The chemical disposal is over there and so is the west turret tower.' I pointed at the turret that was firing wildly and inaccurately and very pathetically. Bigger calibre means higher collision rate but less pressure, which is key to getting through the armour of such creatures. The turrets had been designed to fight ships, not worms.

She groaned but nodded and we started off towards the turret tower where main controls for the area resided.

'I need you to enter you ID code.' I said. 'Only Alliance are allowed to use this.'

She did.

'Welcome Alliance Marine, Jean Shepard.' said the control array.

'Hi.' I replied dryly and began to push buttons.

I quickly found the shuttle controls and put them onto my omni-tool, connecting all the surviving crafts. I made them take hold of the turret and the containers of different acidic and generally degenerative solutions.

'This is Shepard, we are going to blast these creatures with tainted chems, take cover on my mark! I repeat, we are going to blast them with tainted chemicals, don't let them stray from point and take cover on my mark!' shouted the soldier into her com. She waited for affirmatives and someone shouting at her. 'How the hell should I know? Just fire and get behind cover on my command!' she replied. 'How soon?' she asked me.

'A few seconds.' I said. The turret had stopped firing and marines came down the stairs to aid the rest. They must have noticed the shuttles outside of the tower. I unlocked the turret from the neck of the tower and released the chemical containers. Five shuttles had to carry the containers and three shuttles the turret.

'I'm releasing them on three!' I said to the soldier.

'On three, take cover!' she relayed to the com.

'One. Two. Three. Now!'

I gave it two more seconds and then dropped the turret which had received a self-destruct order set on two seconds along with the containers. I wasn't sure how they would explode but I was sure that they would, along with the shuttles that were now plummeting towards the creatures instead of trying to circle and fire at them. The explosion shook the walls and the ground. The tower made a creaking noise and bits of it fell down. The soldier pulled me out of the way as everything collapsed.

'Report.' she said into the com.

I heard the buzz of the intercom and was glad to hear that they had gotten out of the way from the blast. Not dallying any longer I started of towards the south research platform where my mother was stationed, ignoring the shouts of the Alliance soldier.

I ran by the school, or the wreckage of it at any rate, turned a corner that was more like a chuck of gravel rather than a corner and saw the platform. Or rather, I saw where it was supposed to have been. It was gone.

The platform was supposed to have been raised upon reinforced metal poles with a strong foundation to support it. With all this grumbling of the ground and the burrowing of the thresher maws the platform must have fallen down the cliff. With all the engineers. With my mother. Who the hell set a platform on a cliff? Seemed stupid in retrospect.

I couldn't really comprehend what was happening but a pain in my legs and arms made me look down in time to see them raw and bleeding.

'What?' I asked stupidly, not moving anywhere.

They seemed to be burning only without the fire as an excuse. What was going on? As I felt drowsy and suffocated I realized that I'd forgotten the fact that you had to vent an area of the poisoned chemicals before entering it. Or you died. The soldiers would be fine because the shields had been designed to filter this sort of radiation, the only radiation they were capable of filtering. But I was unprotected. So I would die. And see mother. But what if she wasn't dead? She could have left the platform and gotten to cover amongst the soldiers, safe even now from the radiation.

Now I began panicking. I could feel it ruining my eyes and eyelids, the pain making me gasp for breath which in turn gave way to more pain.

'There she is!' someone shouted.

A person ran over to me and the noise of radiation in my head stopped. It was one of the soldiers.

'Where is my mother?' I asked as calmly and sternly as I could. I then realized that they wouldn't know who my mother was. 'She is one of the engineers that worked on that platform. Her name is Agatha.'

I couldn't see at all any more but it wasn't really my primary concern. I wanted to make sure as well that no one else was exposed to this radiation.

'Calm down.' said a female voice. 'Doc, I need you here. She's falling to pieces.'

I winced. Had something fallen off?

'I'm coming. Give her anaesthetics. She is degenerating rapidly!'

'Why? Why aren't we affected?' asked the soldier.

'This radiation acts irrationally, moving in much the same way that electrons do, only much slower. Still fast enough for the shields to burn it off.' replied the doctor soothingly.

'She's behind shields!' pointed the soldier out.

'But she got too damaged for autonomous recovery. She'll need medical aid to survive this. There are a few acids that counteract this and the proper dosage of glucose could give her better chance of fighting this out.' replied the doctor, now urgently. 'Can you hear me?' she asked.

'No.' I said, forgetting the question instantly but knowing that I had to respond or they would think me dead, forgetting that they'd see me breathe.

'Good. Stay calm and don't move. Medi-gel will remove most of the exterior wounds but it will still burn and hurt under the skin, the damage goes deep.'

'Wait.' I said, trying to remember through the very persistent pain. 'Where is my mother?'

There was a silence and I felt my arms burning. I tried to scream but couldn't find my voice. I wasn't sure if I was out of it or not.

'You are Numine, right?' asked the doctor as I felt the pain subside. She was giving me painkillers.

'Yes.' I said.

'I'm sorry, Numine.'

I did understand. Why was she sorry? She didn't know? I didn't know? That made no sense. And then my vision came back. My head felt as if it was about to explode from pain as my eyes began seeing light and I did my best not to rub them. I then realized that I was so successful because the doctor was holding my arms down.

'Give her these.' she said to someone and I felt water being poured onto my eyes. Instantly they felt better. I couldn't quite see anything aside from vague silhouettes but it was enough. I began to get up again.

'No, don't get up. You are in a very bad shape. Moving will do irreversible damage.' said the doctor. 'From what the scans tell me almost your entire body has been affected, brain included. Medi-gel keeps it from falling apart but moving is dangerous.'

I wanted to nod and say I understood but then I realized that it would be moving and so didn't nod.

'Alright. But where is my mom? Is she hurt? Is she shielded? If not, she needs help.' I said, reasoning.

'Numine-...' began the doctor.

'Min. Call me Min.' I interrupted. Stupid name.

'Your mother died, Min. The ground didn't hold the platform. She and half of the engineering squad died. I'm sorry.'

I tried to understand what the doctor was saying but it was much like trying to hold water in my cupped hands. I couldn't quite get it.

'What do you mean?' I asked, not sure if my question was stupid or not.

Before I could get an answer there was shouting and I could hear gunfire coming from alarmingly close at hand. There were sounds of beasts, much like the thresher maws only they sounded squeakier, compared to before at least.

'Retreat! Everybody pull back!' someone shouted. I wondered if that included me or if I should just remain on the ground. I felt much better now, but the doctor was right, if my brain would fall apart by me moving then I had better refrain from doing so.

'Get her! We can't leave her!' someone shouted.  
My heart sank. I opened my eyes and I was alone, everyone else were far away now. I looked down my legs and saw something very curious growing larger and larger. It took me a while to realize that these were some kind of bugs swarming down on me. Forgetting all the warnings from the doctor and the pain in my head, painkillers didn't mute that, I began to get up and move away.  
I hadn't realized before how weak I had become, but I should have known seeing as most of my muscle tissue was melted off by the radiation. I couldn't move much beyond a slow and painful crawl.

I shrieked in horror as something very hard and heavy collided with me, expecting death very quickly. It wasn't death. It was that soldier from before. She was carrying me away.

Everything turned red and brown at first and I thought that I was going blind again, my vision failing. No such luck. We were swarmed by these giant, bug-like things who were stabbing and spitting at the soldier. I could see the mucus slowly melting at her armour.

Not that she wasn't putting up with a fight. She was and a damn good one at that, blasting open the heads of any bugs that came too close.

'Go to the river.' I said as one of the bugs came dangerously close to my head with it's claw.

'Can you swim?' she shouted back, firing as rapidly as she could.

'I will float if necessary.' I replied. Drowning felt a lot easier than this kind of death.

She turned around and began sprinting, discarding the overheated shotgun. I dug in her pocket and found a number of explosives. A small number, true, but if it could halt the flying bugs then hey, why not? All in all, three grenades. I took the time to read the name on them. These were manufactured by some corporation called ExoGeni. I threw one to see what would happen.

It blinked three times and then exploded in a very unsatisfactory way. The bugs were rattled but not unduly so. And there seemed to be more of them as well.

I tweaked the explosives a bit, to force them into a position for easier ignition. I threw it.

Three blinks and the following explosion took out five of the bugs. It also made the soldier carrying me across her shoulder stumble.

'Sorry.' I said.

She didn't reply. Her breath was heavy and I could feel her discomfort under me. But I could also see the river from here. What more, I could see the large amount of bugs swimming in it. I hadn't thought of that. Looking about I saw a barely standing building with three floors. It had no doors.

'Run through that place!' I said, pointing.

'Why?' she asked, heading towards it.

'We're taking as many of them as possible before they take us! Don't stop, just run through!' I replied.

I tweaked the explosive again, my last one, and threw it close to a very bearing wall at the end of the building. As we ran out of it the explosive went off with a huge bang. The building didn't stand too long. One of the bugs managed to get out before the structure collapsed on the rest.

'Kill it!' I shrieked, as it's spit missed me by an inch.

The soldier turned around and shot it five times in the head, killing it.

She let me fall to the ground, breathing hard. I felt as if part of me were indeed falling apart, my vision shifted between focused and unfocused, colour and sepia so often that it was disconcerting. Nothing changed when I closed them. I could taste blood and was sure that one of my ribs was broken.

'Now... what?' gasped the soldier.

I looked around me, trying to see what we had to work with. The bugs at the river didn't seem content staying there and began to quickly approach us.

'We can't kill them all by doing what we've been doing so far. How many more are there?'

She seemed to look about and then checked her omni tool. She cursed.

'The colony is overrun.' she said bitterly.

'Tell everyone to head towards a tall structure.' I said, another plan in the making.

'More running?' she asked.

'Yup. We're going to drown them.' I said, as she lifted me and slung me across her shoulder. It hurt like hell but I suppose that it was still preferable to death.

'How? The fire extinguishers?' asked the soldier, heading in their direction.

'No. The aqueducts. And the pipes. Find a place where they meet and blow it up. Have as many bugs there as possible. Even if they don't drown the sheer pressure of water will kill them.'

She looked to her omni tool for a while as she ran.

'We are headed towards such a place.' she said. 'It's just outside the mining mess hall.'

She turned a corner. She swore.

'What?' I asked, trying to see. What I saw, though incomplete, didn't seem encouraging. There were many bugs. All of them coming from the mine.

'There's another one further south!' said the soldier, running fast now. 'How are we blowing them up?'

I hadn't thought of that. I looked through her weapons. The handgun had a funny addition of incendiary ammo. That would do. I realized why it was odd. The handgun was burned out.

I threw the thing away and fixed the incendiary ammo to the assault rifle ammo. It looked shaky so I removed some of the actual ammo and bypassed the heat sinks. Inspired further I took the barrel from the sniper rifle, having broken parts of it in my attempt to remove it, and swapped it for the assault rifle barrel. I connected the ammo modification to the barrel, again past the heat sinks.

My home made bomb-thrower was done. I wondered if it would explode at all. At any rate, it didn't look less shaky.

'Well?' asked the soldier more insistently as we reached the crossing of a hot water pipe and the aqueduct.

'I've got it covered.' I replied. 'Get up there, wait for the bugs to fill the streets and pull the trigger. The hole made will be wide enough to drown this place in a few seconds. You can leave me in there.'

I pointed towards what seemed to be an alley.

'That's a light pole.' she said, beginning her climb. 'And I'm not leaving you.'

'You can't-...'

'Years of military training.' she said, interrupting me. 'I'm quite fit.'

'Have you contacted the others? This place will be under water very soon.' I said.

'No one else responds. As far as I can tell, all military is dead. There's no way for us to contact the other colonists. Are we doing this?'

I weighed the cons against the pros. People would be able to see the flood and hide, even if they aren't warned. But some might not make it in time. They'll just be washed away. Then so will the bugs. This is a hundred degrees Celsius water. It will scar people, if nothing else. The aqueduct is rather cool. The bugs will kill me if I don't do this.

And that was the dominant thought. Also, little to no research would be destroyed this way, compared to a nuclear blast from a ship, this is a way more preferred way to deal with things.

'Do it.' I said.

She nodded.

I could see the massive swarm of bugs coming closer and closer. They didn't actually fly that well, coming down to ground after a second or so. From my unfocused eyes it looked like the armies of hell, descending on us. I hugged the soldier to me. If this didn't work I'd die. I would have been a waste of space and resources. My life would have neither meaning nor consequence. No one would know that I was here. My father would. My father. We could have moved to Eden Prime. What had happened? Thresher maws aren't native to Akuze. What the hell? And the huge bugs? Is this a bad sci-fi movie?

I couldn't be sure it wasn't. The quality was rubbish at any rate.

The bugs were surrounding us completely now. I hugged her even tighter to me. She pulled the trigger.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Fogria and medals

'Well I'm not too sure. The burns, yes, but the rest?'

'There was a container of toxic waste on site. She could have been exposed.'

'Something had cushioned her system, I'll say.'

'She's waking up! Don't let her wake up!'

'Can you hear me? Don't move. You'll be fine now. Just don't move.'

Everything hurt like hell. But something in the back of my mind told me that I was alive. I decided to check for memory loss. Who was I? Min, or Numine. My mother, Agatha, is an engineer and my father is an Alliance marine. Or soldier, I'm not sure whether there's a difference. Going to have to ask that other Alliance soldier. The one who saved me. I tried to remember whether my plan to drown the bugs worked. I couldn't. I supposed that I must have lost consciousness. But seeing how I survived I guess that it must have had an effect.

I didn't open my eyes, trying not to think about what I might or might not see. Back to memory checking.

My biggest dream? I guess it must be stupid but I've always wanted to be a biotic. That power, to control something with you mind... I guess I must have some control freak in me, but if so then she's buried very deep.

My worst nightmare? I couldn't really think of anything worse than what had happened at Akuze. I guess that I have nothing else to fear.

My friends? This took a while to remember. There had been a boy in the class who had seemed interested but as best I could remember I didn't have friends. Maybe some part of my memory _had_ gone then.

But I was sure that I was me. Myself. I opened my eyes and nothing I saw dissuaded me from that belief. I was just where I had thought I'd be. In a hospital. But which hospital? That explosion should have drowned the entire colony. Had they already set things up again? How long have I been out to start with? Too long if even an hour, but still.

'You're awake.' said a male voice from somewhere close by.

'Am I?' I asked, not too sure.

'Yes.' he chuckled. 'I am doctor Weglar.'

He checked my pupils, had me stick out my tongue and follow his finger.

'Do you remember what happened to you?' he asked, looking at me intently.

'Yeah.' I said, the images of thresher maws, bugs and dying colonists in my mind growing more and more violent.

'What is the last thing you remember?' the doctor prompted.

'Me and that soldier were about to blow the aqueduct. And then it goes blank. I guess that I must have been knocked out or something.'

The doctor nodded.

'And before that?'

'Ah, loads of huge worms killing people. A very helpful doctor telling me my mother is dead while curing my burning skin. That what you want to hear?' I asked in an unnecessarily aggressive voice.

'So your memory is intact.' he said, smiling at me with a sympathetic smile that made me want to punch him.

'What happened to the soldier?' I asked, lying back down. I held no illusion about my walking abilities at the moment. I felt as if I was tied to the bed, rather than covered with a blanket.

'The weapon did more damage than she anticipated. The shield caught most of it but she's still under.' said the doctor, pointing to a bed nearby. 'When the Alliance arrived she was still killing the straggler bugs. As soon as they reached you two she collapsed.'

I looked at her with respect, gratitude and awe. From her impressive kills of the thresher maw to her bravery against the bugs I couldn't help but feel very small and insignificant in comparison.

'You're going to stay here a week more. We have replaced your left eye with an implant, not wanting to risk necrosis or infection. Your liver took a lot of damage from the radiation so you will have to be careful of what you eat the next three months. There is a black spot in your brain that the scanners can't give us any information about. As best we can tell it's not dead nor is it corrupted in any way. It's just addled by the radiation so be prepared for minor hallucinations, throbbing, headaches and confusion.' upon seeing my look of horror he added, 'It's a tiny spec of darkness. Don't worry.'

As I remained frozen in my mask of horror his face grew dark and serious.

'You are lucky to be alive at all. Lucky that this marine decided to sacrifice her health for you. You owe her something.'

As I regained control of myself I nodded to him. He nodded back and left me in peace, to rest.

'I thought that he'd never go away.' muttered the marine, next to me.

'Ah! You're awake?' I asked, startled so badly that I almost fell out of my bed.

'Of course I am. I just can't stand all this melodrama, so I fake unconsciousness.' she winked at me. 'It's not hard to fake it with some practice.'

I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. I laughed, my bubbly nature springing out at last.

'How are you? You've been having nightmares since you got back from surgery.' she said, concerned.

'I think that I'm fine. I cope, at least. But tell me something...' I hesitated.

'What?' she prompted.

'Do I have a _cyborg_ eye?' I asked, wincing at the thought. 'Because if they've put in a piece of metal instead of something-...'

She interrupted me, laughing.

'It's an eye. They didn't make you half geth.'

I laughed too.

'But is it, you know, different?' I wasn't sure now what my problem was with the implant but I felt sad that a part of me was gone.

'They used your original eye to make the implant. I've seen it done to one of the marines. They just put in a sort of fleshy thing into your eye. That's it.' she comforted me. 'And now you can see infrared.' she smirked.

'I can?' I raised my eyebrows.

'Well no, you'll have to pay for an improvement.' she replied, shrugging.

'And how are you? What happened? Did it work?' I asked, anxious to see whether she was angry with me.

'Like a charm. They didn't die, not all of them, from the water but they got smashed by the buildings into which the water pushed them. The survivors were too confused, angry and shaken to be much of a fight.' she said, giving me a curious smile. 'What the hell did you do to the rifle? It felt like shooting with a Thanx cannon by hand, rather than attached to a ship. It melted after one shot.'

I hid my face in my hands.

'Well, you wanted explosion so I figured that-...'

'I'm not upset, though you could have warned me.' she laughed. 'I meant that it was an impressive piece of engineering. If you want, I could put in a good word on your behalf when you're off to find work.' she offered.

I thought about it. It couldn't hurt to have a soldier from Alliance military saying that I'm a good engineer.

'Yeah... Yeah, I'd like that.' I replied. 'What's your name, by the way?'

'I'm Jean. Jean Shepard.'

'I'm Numine, though most call me Min, Shin'ichi.'

'Nice to meet you, Min Shin'ichi.' said Jean, smiling.

We sat in silence for a while, both of us preoccupied with events past. And even after I had it all sorted out, as well as I could for the time being, the thoughts of my father returned to me, reminding me of the life that should be. I wondered how I could possibly go back from this. From seeing what I saw. And most importantly; surviving it. It couldn't not let it get to my head, but when it did get to my head funny things happened. There was no pride or joy that I survived. There was only terrible sadness. There was no hate nor desire for revenge because I felt for the bugs and thresher maws as well as all the soldiers and colonists. I knew that it was irrational but I also knew that they had suffered as much as we had.

I shook my head, trying to clear it of such stupid thoughts. I tried to force things back into perspective. I was attacked by them and defended myself. And everyone died.

If there is such a thing as heaven, then Akuze must weigh heavily on my bad side and not on the good one. I spent much of the day trying to rationalize both sides and did so until I was interrupted by a nurse who brought food. Food made me realize that I was starving. And that I still had no idea of where I was.

'Where are we?' I asked of Jean as the nurse left.

'Oh right, you wouldn't know. We're in the Citadel. This is the "human" district, which means that there are some humans about. Not only humans though.' she smiled. Then frowned as she realized there was no food for her. 'Time to awaken.' she said with another one of her curious smiles. How she could be so cheerful I didn't know. I wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

She pressed a button on the railing of her bed and a nurse came immediately, followed by the doctor.

'Ah, Shepard. You are awake.'

He did the same examination on her as he had done on me.

'What is the last thing you remember?' he asked, looking intently at her.

'I saw a light. And I was coming out of the womb. There are people around me. It's very confused.'

I snorted into my food with laughter.

'People do not remember the day of their birth.' said the doctor disapprovingly.

'I was making sure that no bug got through my hasty barricade. There had been a message saying that an Alliance ship was on it's way, if I could hold on for just two more minutes then they'd get us. So I waited for them. The blast must have given me a concussion and I don't remember anything else.' she replied seriously.

'Very well. I see that you are fine. You will have some scars from your encounter with the bugs, but no serious damage has been done. You are very lucky to be alive.' he looked at me and then back at Jean. 'Both of you.'

And with that he left in a very dramatic fashion.

'See.' she said to me as the nurse left. 'Mr melodrama.'

I shook my head in amusement.

The food wasn't too bad only trouble was that I couldn't figure out what it was. It was plain and green with white and reflective on the outside but soft and bread-like inside. And you were apparently supposed to eat it with knife and fork because they'd served it with them.

'What... is this?' I asked, poking the thing with my plastic knife, making sure that it's not moving.

'I don't know.' she said, frowning. 'On three, you recon?'

I nodded.

'One. Two. Three.' we both took a bite. It tasted like... well I couldn't really compare it with anything. I guess that it was a lot like bread with butter made very liquid. Or maybe rainwater and eggs.

It wasn't unpleasant but close to tasteless. I was sure, from Jean's expression, that she knew what to compare it with, that it was very similar and that she didn't much like that comparison.

'What do you think?' I asked, eating my food.

She looked at me with her eyebrows raised, thinking.

'I think that I'm the wrong person to serve this guff for.'

She closed her eyes and was asleep within minutes.

I was hungry enough to ignore both the remark and the odd taste of the food. I checked the watch and saw that it was past dusk already, yet the sun was up and shining. Come to think of it, the sun had been at the same place in the sky for hours now. How long was a day on the Citadel exactly? I closed the blinds with another button on the railing of the bed and went to a comparatively calm and deep sleep.

Exactly what I dreamed I could not remember but upon waking up I was sweating and shaking. Jean was already awake again and she was surrounded by journalists.

'And what of the response of Alliance fleet?' asked a rather nosey journalist.

'They came much sooner than I expected.' said Jean calmly. 'As I already said, this attack was, aside from absurd, very unexpected and the Alliance reaction time saved my and this girls life. There was no way this could have gone better, terribly bad as it went anyway.'

There were only the faintest hints of pain in her voice. Not physical pain but emotional. She was finally allowing the memories to sort themselves out, I noticed.

'But surely, with fifty marines dead and more than two hundred colonists, you have a criticism against Alliance efficiency?' persisted the reporter, almost desperate now.

'No. Had there been more marines on site then more would have died, not less. The one thing I can think of is safeguard against thresher maws. But when we first settled on Akuze, no such things inhabited the world, this you all know. I repeat, the Alliance did everything and more. That it wasn't enough is up to chance and not to them.' answered Jean dismissively.

'And what about the girl? Why didn't you save anyone else?' asked another reporter. No one had noticed that I was awake.

'I didn't save her per se. She came up with the idea of drowning the rachni and she was the one who blew up the canisters of acid that killed the thresher maws. After that was done, I could easily hold my ground until the Alliance came.'

I felt slightly proud of myself at those words.

'So you are saying that this girl prompted you to destroy the colony?' asked another reported and my heart sank.

'It was already destroyed. The blast hurt no one but herself, in her haste to find her mother. The flood knocked the rachni back and killed all the nearby ones. I doubt that any colonist suffered from it.' replied Jean readily.

'Alright! Clear out!' said doctor Weglar, waving his arms and pushing the reporters out of the room. He had realized that I was awake.

'But wait! Miss Shin'ichi, do you have any comments on the recent events?' asked one of the reporters but she was pushed out of the room and the door was securely locked.

'Gargoyles, all of them.' said the doctor, shaking his head. 'Trying to make the Alliance and the two of you villains rather than victims.'

'They are just doing their job.' said Jean airily. 'How are you, Min?'

I couldn't speak. Her words had removed such a weight of my shoulders that I wanted to weep, or maybe sing.

'Thank you.' I said to her in a faint voice. 'For, back there. And carrying me. And for what you said.'

She rolled her eyes. Then seemed to realize something and nodded instead.

'I did my job Min. You're the victim here. Soldiers should be doing what you did, not the other way around. The Alliance _do_ have a few things to answer for. And to compensate for. And your father is here.' she added, almost as an afterthought.

'What? My father! Where?' I sat up and regretted it, my entire body hurt very badly. 'Ah, damn.'

'He went out as we let the journalists in.' said Jean, shrugging. 'I guess he'll be back soon. I've served with him before, turns out.'

'You have? Where?' I asked, surprised.

'We did a strike against a few pirate bases together. Nothing big. Didn't know that he even had a daughter back then.'

'My father has killed pirates?' I asked, the question sounded very cool. She laughed.

'They surrendered. A few of them have already been released for good behaviour.' she said in a disapproving voice.

'That must have been a while back.' I said.

'Yes. Two years back. I was pretty fresh out of the training camps back then.'

'Why did you decide to become a soldier in the first place?' I asked. This question had mystified me for a very long time. How could anyone want to settle disputes by killing people who matter?

'Ah, that's ancient history.' she said and though she didn't seem to be upset there was a finality in her voice that told me she wouldn't say anything else.

'Min!' exclaimed a relieved voice. I looked around and saw my father standing in the doorway.

His face had a scar on it and the beard he wore didn't suit him at all but it was my father. Kumora Shin'ichi, an Alliance marine. He was a rather short man but the way he was built made him look as if he was the right size, only smaller. If I had been standing upright I'd be as tall as he was.

'Dad!' I replied, my face lighting up. 'Dad, I'm so glad you are here.'

He hugged me tightly and said something in japanese. I couldn't really hear but he mentioned god and I made out that he was thanking them for me. That I had survived.

'Thank the soldier dad. She saved me.' I said soothingly.

'I didn't.' she said, affronted. 'Why do I have to repeat myself? I did the running and jumping.'

My father chuckled.

'I don't know who's story to believe.' he said, looking amused. 'Shepard tells me that you came up with a way to get rid of the worms and the rachni, god knows how they are still alive. And you tell me that she saved you.'

'Well, both are true... sort of. I told her what to do and then she helped me do it.' I reassured him.

'The Alliance aren't going to be happy about this.' he frowned. 'This will not only mean a trial but you will have to get involved and who knows how a civilian will affect this.'

'A trial? What have we done wrong?' I asked, worried.

'Not that kind of trial, it's a hearing. The board members of the Alliance council will hear us out about what happened and then award us a medal for survival and public service, etcetra. It's a publicity stunt.' said Jean, frowning. 'And I think we can say for sure that you'll get a medal. It's what they'll do to me that I'm worried about.'

'Why will I get a medal? I didn't do anything.' I pointed out.

'If you hadn't killed the thresher maws then they would have ruined the whole colony, infrastructure included. We would have been forced to nuke them from orbit, destroying the colony. Your way though, much valuable research has been preserved.' she explained. 'Now we can rebuild as well, if we ever get a masochistic desire.' she added, laughing at some private joke.

'Then why would they punish you?' I frowned.

'Because I never got permission to leave my post. I was supposed to have followed orders back there, but I disobeyed them and ran along with you. It might be nothing but they could also say that my squad died because of me.' she shrugged and I saw her hide a wince. This was hurting her a lot.

'I'm sorry.' I murmured.

'For what?' she said angrily. 'Do you think I would have been better off behind one of those barricades? Would there have been a _triumphant_ return if I had followed orders?'

I didn't say anything.

'Lay off her, Shepard.' said my father warningly.

'Right. Sorry.'

There was an awkward silence. Father went to fetch a chair and then sat down by my side.

'Weren't you at Eden Prime?' I asked for something to say.

'I heard what had happened two hours after that it did. My superiors gave me leave to go to the Citadel.' he answered.

'Dad. Mother, she...' I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. I knew that he must know that she is dead. And I knew that I was the last person in the world who could comfort him. I am the legacy of his love, not a support of it.

'I know.' he whispered. 'I know.'

His voice sounded clear and strong but i could feel how he trembled. I couldn't tremble. I was still numb. Well, numb figuratively. Physically, I hurt a lot.

Somehow, though the scenery was perfect and the aftermath of the recent events still fresh in my mind it dawned on me how very tragically I was behaving. Almost too much so. I glanced at Jean and found that she was looking out of the window, at the trees and the buildings. I frowned, checking my memory. Didn't she say that I was on the Citadel? The Citadel was the huge space station in the middle of nowhere. How the asari found it is beyond me. So where did the tree come from? I craned my neck to see and was astonished when I saw several large trees, much larger than those surrounding our colony, standing just outside. Our room seemed to be on the first floor as it didn't really take me much craning to see the ground.

And why were we sharing rooms? Easier access for the doctors, I guess. Or maybe the rest of the hospital was filled.

I started when my father shifted in the chair, glancing up at me.

'You are dealing with this better than I had hoped.' he said, looking intently at me.

'So... much better than I should.' I replied.

'Yes.'

'Does that mean I'm dealing with it the wrong way?'

'No.'

'Oh good. I don't think I can start over at any rate.'

He shook his head.

'You haven't changed, you know that?'

'You didn't want me to change. People hate it when things change.' I said bitterly. 'I have acquired some hasty experience in the matter, so it's all true.'

He didn't reply and I wasn't sure if he agreed or disagreed.

I must have dozed off at some point because I was awakened by a nurse, bringing more of the same stuff to eat that I've already had.

'Look, don't you have pizza, or noddles? Noddles aren't bad for your liver, you know. They are, ah, noodly.'

But the nurse had her orders. Nonetheless she did have some good new for me.

'If you like, you can take a look around the Presidium. Just don't go too far, in case something happens to you. And you are not to stray beyond the embassy square.'

That meant that I had a good square kilometre to wander freely about. And now that I was healthy enough for some of the more powerful anaesthetics I could do so without the disadvantage of crippling pain.

'Hang on, I'm coming with you.' said Jean, getting up. I closed my eyes as she got dressed, a courtesy she had done for me in turn. 'I haven't been here on holiday before. It's supposed to be quite impressive.'

And it was. There were shops and stalls containing games, music, books and electronic equipment I have only heard rumours about on the colony. I felt a stab in my chest as I realized that no one at the colony aside from me was here to witness all these things. Jean seemed to either understand or share my feelings because she did a very good job of keep us both distracted.

In the "human" district, and the human part was indeed mainly due to a dozen or so humans that lived there and nothing more, there were items manufactured on Earth, things that weren't really a necessity but an indulgence. Make up, clothes and shoes that looked very classy and were very expensive. Most of the stuff, well really all of it, was for people who had seemingly unlimited wealth. The clothes cost five hundred credits per dress. Back at the colony I could have bought half a wardrobe in decent colours with that kind of money.

And the electronics, as if to counteract that, was ridiculously cheap. Fifty credits for an upgrade for the omni tool, add twenty more and you'll have a thousand songs on it as well. There were different coupons one could buy for different surgical procedures involving biotic upgrades. I stared at them for a very long time with a hungry expression until Jean called me over to look at something.

'What?' I asked, slightly annoyed.

'If you want to see infrared.' she grinned, pointing out an "ExoGeni – pinpoint colour" upgrade. From what the leaflet said, they would implant another iris set to supplement the original one.

'I'm not interested in being a security camera.' I huffed.

She laughed and pulled me over to see something else. And there was _a lot _of something else. The vegetables they grew here were different from anything I've seen before. Amongst them we found a red variety of the guff I've been eating at the hospital.

'Excuse me, could you tell me what this thing is?' I asked, pointing at the red, white and shiny thing.

'It's a fogria. They originate from the asari homeworld and are said to taste differently for everyone. But that's not true. It tastes different for every species because of it's chemical construct. The asari say it tastes sweet. If you're from Earth you'll know strawberries, right?'

I nodded, we grew them on the colony.

'For the quarians they taste salty. Much like... salt. And for humans they taste... well I don't really have a good example but I think that it tastes much like some perfumed mushroom.'

I saw Jean shift her feet. She clearly knew something about these plants that she wasn't about to tell me.

We ate at a coffee shop. Well I say ate, I had some tea while Jean ate and rank her way through the menu, reminding me that I was supposed to be careful with what I eat.

'Ah, look I can't pay for this...' I remembered belatedly. 'But I'll pay you back. Actually, my father coul-...'

'Don't bother. Alliance pays for this. See?' she produced a silver card with the Alliance insignia on it.

'A card? That's almost primitive.' I said, amused.

'Nah, that's just for show. It's all in my omni tool. The card is for Earth and human colonies and the like.'

We started towards the hospital, still looking about and met my father on the way. He was staying at a friends house for "as long as he had to" which could mean one day or one year. I didn't like the idea of him leaving soon.

All in all we had spent five hours outside before we had to return. I wasn't sure why Jean was being kept at the hospital because she seemed as fit as ever. Maybe it was standard procedure?

My pain meds had started to wear off and so I was glad when I could finally lay down and rest in my bed.

And I had to give them credit. They knew how to make a hospital. It wasn't the dreary and depressing place that I was used to at the colony, where the light would illuminate the ugliest corners of the tidy and sterile room. Though the walls were indeed white, they didn't seem sterile but simply clean, homelike. The light wasn't coming from some sickly-looking worker's lamp either but from the sun, through the open window. I noticed, with some amusement, as I realized that the sun was still in the same place on the sky as it had been... yesterday? I wasn't sure. I was used to measuring time by night and day but as there hadn't been any night here...

'How long have I been here in all?' I asked, worried.

'In all? Um, I think...' Jean creased her brow, counting. 'Five days now.'

'Holy..! Five days?'

'Well, you were out the first day, with the surgery and all and you woke up on the third day... so, yeah.'

'How do you know? There's no night here!'

'There a watch though.' she pointed towards the opposite wall at the digital watch.

'Well yes, but that could be morning or dusk!'

'And there is a tiny moon and a tiny sun at the bottom, see?' she pointed them out. The moon was bigger than the sun now.

'Ah. So it's dusk.' I sighed.

'Yes. Our internal watches work pretty well, don't they? If it had been morning we'd still have been out there.'

'No way. I wouldn't be able to walk.' I shook my head. Though I stopped the shaking it, the head didn't stay still. It seemed to revolve and spin, making the room blurry and making my heart beat faster. 'Wow.' I couldn't help saying.

'What?'

'My head is spinning like... it's spinning a lot.' I was too dizzy to come up with a good metaphor.

'Are you alright?'

'Yeah. Just woozy.' I nodded, which made the world do a few somersaults in rapid progression.

The pain was far away now. Everything seemed to be quiet and peaceful. And the worried voice, calling my name and shaking me by the shoulder or the cold floor? They didn't matter much. Not really.

I felt that, much as I liked to remain asleep, I had to deal with whatever was going on because it seemed urgent. There was a murmur of voices around me, a deja vu feeling sweeping over me with them.

They weren't speaking english, japanese or salarian and so I couldn't understand a word they said. I only grasped the final line of the words which meant 'thank you' in asari. I couldn't actually speak asari but you pick up tidbits from vids and commercials.

Salarian was the standard language for any Citadel space tech. And english had spread like wild fire as humans began taking places in the Citadel. People said that english and japanese sounded so poetic and cool. I couldn't really agree, but maybe I was just too used to them to notice.

'She's awake.' said someone in english and I opened my eyes.

'Are you alright? How are you feeling?' asked a new doctor whom I hadn't seen before.

'Ah, I'm fine. Why? What happened?'

They exchanged glances. I noticed that there were two salarians and one asari in the room as well as the human doctor. Jean was on her bed. I noticed the glances she was throwing my way, so she wasn't asleep.

'We have operated your brain for the chemical malgrowth.' said the asari awkwardly, making all the words round. 'You will be tested for motoric functionality and logical thinking.'

'Oh. Well did you get it? The malgrowth?'

No one answered.

'What? Don't tell me! You've had to replace my brain too!' I squeaked.

The doctors exchanged a half amused and half surprised look.

'Ah, no. The scans tell us of it's position but we didn't realize that it was a central point of synapses. We didn't actually operate. We merely opened, realized our error and closed. We do not expect that damage was done, but...' the human doctor shrugged as if to say 'you never know.'

They put forward what looked suspiciously like a MENSA test for my omni tool.

'Please answer the questions as fast as you can.' said the salarian in english.

'Of course.' I replied in salarian, smiling.

There were forty pages all in all.

'What the... Look, I didn't study for the test.' I said, amused by the amount of pages on my omni tool. 'As fast as I can?'

They merely nodded and one of the salarians made an exasperated noise. He clearly felt that this was too much a test. I did too.

The first few were fairly simple and I got through the five or six pages in about as many minutes. Then it got harder. The patterns were so subtle and secretive that I had to get out of my way to solve them. When I finally came to the last one I had to really twist my brain for the right answer. At first the last one seemed to be wrong, not having an actual answer and, fifteen minutes later, I decided to concede defeat. Just as I opened my mouth to say this though, a thought struck me.

'Could I get a pen and a paper?' I asked, frowning at the task before me.

By now, the doctors were sitting in chairs and talking quietly to each other. The asari quickly gave me what I asked for.

I drew up the patters in different varieties. Back to front, reversed and upside down. They all had logical solutions. Why didn't the original one? I looked at the solutions for the converted tasks. They were all different but made a pattern on their own. I put them together much like one would with a puzzle.

'Done!' I said triumphantly. 'I freaking did it!'

I sent them the test back through the omni tool.

They quickly sifted through my answers, hiding their thoughts from me. It seemed almost suspicious.

'Very well. Take this.' said the human doctor, giving me a ball.

They made me walk, run, jump and catch and throw the ball to show that all of me was working fine. Eventually, satisfied, they left.

'I must admit, you scared me there.' said Jean as soon as they were gone. I jumped again.

'Stop doing that! You'll give me a heart attack.' I said, eyeing her suspiciously. 'And what happened exactly. I don't really remember anything bad happening.'

'You said that you were feeling faint and then you fell down, head first, from the bed. You were delirious until the doctors came and sedated you.' she looked as if she was remembering something very disturbing. I couldn't remember a thing.

'Sorry.' I said, not sure what else to say to that.

'Again? You have a funny notion of being the bad guy when you bleed.' she laughed loudly. 'There definitely is _something_ wrong with your brain.'

'Why are you here? Aren't you healthy?' I asked, remembering the question from before.

'I am. But seeing as I have no where else to stay and seeing as we're going to the hearing tomorrow together, I thought that I might keep you company.' she shrugged.

'But you're being starved.' I complained. That bothered me as well.

'I payed the nurse off to buy me some real food. I've had sushi while you were asleep. Sorry.'

'I like sushi.' I said, fingering the edge of my blanket.

In reply she pressed the nurse button on her bed railing. The nurse stuck her head in.

'We want _you know what_.' whispered Jean mock-conspiratorially.

The nurse smiled and retreated, returning a minute later with two plates of sushi. My portion was lesser than Jean's.

'What kind of fish is this?' I asked, smelling it. My mouth watered at the scent.

'Presidium fish.' she replied, grinning at another private joke.

I tasted a bite. It tasted like fish, much as I expected and the rice was, as far as I could tell, genuine rice.

'That is good.' I almost moaned with my mouth full. The veggie diet didn't suit me much. 'So we're going to the hearing tomorrow?'

'Yes. Commander Anderson will come to get us.' she nodded, already finished with her food. I looked at her figure. She was slender and muscular, a very athletic build. I wondered whether she usually ate this much or only now when she had the chance.

I couldn't fall asleep. The endless day and the memories of what had happened kept me awake throughout the very bright night. I couldn't tell whether Jean was asleep or just cunningly pretending to sleep, either way she was quiet until the alarm clock went off. Having extended my "awake" time by nine hours, I didn't feel cheerful, refreshed or eager to meet the head of the Alliance as I would usually have been. We got dressed in silence and had our breakfast, more of the same odd plant fogria, just before the arrival of commander Anderson. He was a dark skinned, neat military man with a number of medals on his chest. He had the look of a warrior who wasn't sure which side he should fight against, despite the fact that he was already on the battle field.

'You are awake and dressed.' he commented unnecessarily.

'Yes sir.' replied Jean, equally pointlessly.

This must be the famous military protocol. Ask a stupid question and then answer it while keeping a straight face.

'And I see that you are awake.' he addressed me now. I fought hard not to roll my eyes. 'How are you feeling?'

'I'm better.' I replied, attempting to imitate Jean's tone.

'Good. I am commander Anderson. Nocturne, my ship, was the first on site to get you out of Akuze.' he said in an explanatory voice.

I nodded.

'Let's go. We don't want to keep them waiting.'

There was a shuttle waiting outside, accompanied by two guard shuttles.

'Are we expecting an attack?' I asked, looking around.

'No. It's our escort. They are merely a precaution and to get through traffic if need be.'

I looked up at the skies, seeing the other side of the Citadel. There were no other shuttles about, and anyway, I doubted that there could possibly be enough shuttles on the Citadel to make enough traffic to cause a stop.

The embassy building was just like every other building on the Citadel only taller. It was white, rounded on corners and had a flashy look to it. As we entered the building I saw a green spider-like creature walking by, ignoring everyone around it. A group of salarians had to stop in order for it to pass by.

'What is that?' I asked Jean, tugging at her sleeve.

'It's a keeper. They are the keepers of the Citadel. And that is all anyone knows about them. They just walk about and do maintenance stuff.'

'Where do they come from?'

'They were on the Citadel when the asari came here.'

I looked curiously in the keeper's direction but it had vanished from sight.

We entered a large room with a very wide and open balcony. In the centre of the room stood three people. To the right stood a very muscular and quite attractive man with small eyes and angular features. In the middle stood a woman who looked the man's opposite. She was old, her hair was white and her skin looked fragile. But she had a good-natured look about her, aided by the faint smile she wore. To the left was a man who, in my opinion, shouldn't be allowed near matches, scissors or pens because he looked ready to snap at any moment. He had the look of someone who had been bullied during his teens and now wanted revenge for those painful years. I instinctively disliked him and the cool look he exchanged with Jean didn't improve anything.

'Welcome, Jean and Numine. Please sit down.' said the old woman to us, motioning towards two chairs that were placed before them. As we sat down the three of them sat down on the opposite side of the room on three raised chairs, much like thrones of the digital era.

'My name is Rebecca Octavius and I am the human ambassador here on the Citadel. This is head of trading and PR for the human embassy here on Citadel, mr. Toboe.' she gestured towards the handsome man who inclined his head. 'And this is head of intelligence and police interactions here on the Citadel, mr. Udina.' the other man inclined his head a fraction of an inch. 'First allow me to say that I understand your loss, for there were dear friends to me on Akuze who died as well. And congratulate you on your efforts to preserve the research conducted there. If not the people, then at least their accomplishments will live on and be of benefit to the humanity.' she cleared her throat. It was clear to me that the woman felt that this meeting was beneath her, me and Jean but had resigned herself to the "customs" of politics. 'You have had time to grieve in these past few days, though not without incidents I hear, and now you must tell me everything that happened back on Akuze in detail.'

I wondered why the Alliance people couldn't simply have taken a report on what had happened. There didn't seem to be a logical reason for them to summon us here.

Jean began telling her side of the story and for the first time I got to see how it had been for her.

'Workers in the mine had contacted the control tower, saying that there was a risk of earthquakes. This was around midday and the usual patrol had already returned along with two excavation Makos, one of which had received water damage due to a design oversight by the Alliance techs here on the Citadel.' she said this with very heavy infliction and her words seemed to be aimed towards Udina who looked as if he was sucking a lemon. 'We spread out throughout the colony in case of infrastructural damage and held our posts for a good quarter of an hour. Then the earthquake began.'

'There was an earthquake?' asked Udina sharply.

'Shut up and listen.' Jean interrupted, making me look at her in astonishment.

'How dare you, Shepard? I will-...'

'That is enough.' said the ambassador quietly. The words had the effect of a dojo gong being struck with heavy artillery. Everyone fell silent. I could see why she was the ambassador and I couldn't imagine how her will could possibly not go through with the Council. 'Please, continue.'

'The earthquake was caused by the digging of thresher maws that a moment later came out of the ground. Their appearance was mainly around the western turret tower and the northern gates where the bulk of our forces were. That only made it easier on the thresher maws. Artillery, infantry and tanks were deployed to minimum effect and only a handful of the thresher maws were brought down. I ran into Min outside the old tank garage, I think it was turned into a school building.' I nodded to confirm. 'There she told me that it would be more effective to strategically place a powerful chemical explosion containing the waste of chemicals that were stored nearby. To ignite them we had to use the head of the western turret gun which contains a good amount of high-calibre ammunition and a mass destructive reaction in case of incorrectly wired power settings and overload.'

I smiled at this. It had taken me a while to explain to her why the turret exploded when it crashed and why soldiers behind shields hadn't been affected by the radiation.

'Briefly after the detonation,' continued Jean in the same official voice, 'Min ran away from me, leaving the cover of my shield and exposing herself to radiation. I followed her to the central research platform where I found her already heavily wounded from the radiation. She was administered a number of injections, medi-gel and eye-drops by doctor Eleanor Smith. Before we could confirm that the thresher maws had all been killed by the explosion a swarm of rachni attacked us.'

She allowed these words to sink in. They had no real meaning to me. Jean had tried to explain how the krogan had killed all of the rachni long ago. It made sense to me though that they missed something. I knew from experience how hard it could be to kill a bug.

'Rachni.' said Udina derisively. 'They are long since exterminated, Shepard. Do you expect me to believe-...'

'No, I don't.' said Jean calmly. 'There is enough evidence that speaks for itself.'

'Go on.' urged the mr. Toboe. 'You were swarmed by the rachni.'

Hearing the story now it sounded much like an adventure, rather than something we accidentally triggered on a remote colony.

'Min had been left on the ground as people evacuated the site. I had to return, not wanting to see her dead. There was a squad of marines left with the colonists and I felt that they could spare me for this. Also, as I began to make my way, with Min by now, away from the swarm a good amount of them turned towards us, giving the marines better odds. To kill off our tail we blew up a carrying wall in a deserted building which collapsed on top of the rachni. Then we made our way towards a meeting point for an aqueduct and a hot water pipe. By then no more human life signs were detectable and we blew the "dam".' she finished her story with a curt nod.

'After that the Alliance ships arrived?' confirmed the ambassador.

'Yes. I believe that they cleared the immediate area with their turrets and after that all goes blank.' confirmed Jean, nodding.

'Very well then.' the old woman shifted her focus to me, 'Miss Shin'ichi, would you be so kind as to tell us how you came to be involved in all this?' asked the ambassador.

'Ah... Well I didn't plan it. The thresher maws were attacking and-...'

'A poor choice of words, I'm sorry.' said the ambassador, raising one hand. 'I meant, could you tell us your side of the story?'

'It's a lot like Jean's.' I said, shrugging. 'You know, only it's from my perspective.'

'Which is why I would like to hear it.' smiled the ambassador.

'Ah. I was at school and we were talking about turian death ships or something. There was an earthquake, which isn't odd, you know, because they are usually digging and blowing stuff up. But this time it was bigger and sort of rhythmic. I don't know why but I began to worry that something might have happened to my mother, she worked as an engineer on that platform Jean told you about. I didn't have time to get out of the building before I saw what was going on. And credit to Jean here, because she took out one of the thresher maws on her own.' I added, glancing towards her. She looked pleased. 'But they were too few, or too many. Either way, the soldiers were getting killed.' I had to swallow there because images that I had suppressed for a while now came back to the surface. I took a deep breath. 'I ran into Jean. And then everything happened as she said.' I summarized.

'If credit is given, then I should add that Min was the one who came up with the bomb idea and the flood idea.' said Jean in a way that made me feel as if we were competing for which one was to humblest. I tried not to laugh.

'Noted.' nodded mr. Toboe.

'Now then. Your account fits what you told us after your arrival here, and after examining the colony we have no reason to suspect otherwise. All of the dead colonists have been accounted for and your mother's funeral will be held here on the Citadel tomorrow.' said the ambassador, addressing me about the latter issue. 'We did discover something that neither of you mentioned, though through no fault of yours. The mining team were the ones who dug up the rachni from within a sealed laboratory complex. After having scanned the area we found an entrance to the facility and discovered a great deal of hidden research that was being done on Akuze. There were no bodies nor any evidence of human visitation of the place. Deeper within the complex we found thresher maw breeding grounds.'

I blinked. They found a facility where those beasts had been bred? Why? To attack us? Impossible. To study something? That was way too extreme to be true. But if they had discovered it...

'Investigations are still being conducted, headed by mr. Udina.' finished the ambassador.

They exchanged looks and then turned back to us. A kind of passive peace and cheerfulness filled the room as they did so.

'For your efforts to preserve human life and dedication to the colony we grant you the medal of bravery and raise you to the rank of commander. For the same reasons we also give you the medal of service in research.' said the ambassador, walking up to Jean and fastening the medals to Jean's attire. It had felt odd seeing her in the military dress, but I understood it now.

'For service to your fellow human being and bravery in times of desperation I present Numine Shin'ichi with this medal.'

She fastened it to my collar, I always wear shirts with collars, and took a step back. I couldn't help but feeling proud, elated and very smug though I knew the cost for this medal.

'You will be well compensated, of course, for the loss of your home and possessions and a residence of your choosing will be provided on the Citadel for both of you until you return to active service. You are both icons and examples for your fellow humans and other races alike. It is a sad occasion and I will not hold you here any longer, you are free to leave.'

With that we got up and left the room in silence. My mind was buzzing, though not for a very good reason. What did it matter to me why there was a hidden research facility that let lose monsters that devoured the colony? It was done with and couldn't be undone. I think that it couldn't be undone, at least. But I was still preoccupied with these thoughts as we returned to where the shuttles had been. Instead of the official looking shuttles there now stood another one, a black and shiny one. And my father was leaning against it.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Death note

After having said hello and been hugged and congratulated, we all decided to go to our new residence. Apparently, father had already gotten one on my behalf. It was in an area called the Winds, which didn't make sense because there was no wind on the Citadel.

In the car were two asari, an adult and a child.

'I am Meinela and this is Jeina.' said the adult asari as I entered the car, sitting down beside them in the back seat.

'I'm Min.' I shook her hand. The little one didn't like to be left out, so I shook her hand too.

I was rather mystified as to why we had asari hitchhiking with us, but didn't want to sound rude so I let it drop.

Father talked with Jean about what she was planning to do next and for a very brief second or so I got an insight into both of their minds as they spoke. Jean wasn't about to let this event stop her from continuing her career and she was rather proud of becoming "commander Shepard". Father argued that, as she hadn't been in command, "commander" was too soon for her to handle. She told him to shut it and that he was spoiling her buzz, which made the little asari girl laugh.

'So would you like to stay with us for dinner, Jean?' asked father as we arrived in the Winds district. It was a nice enough place. A lot like the Presidium, only with fewer houses and more maintenance.

'I actually hoped to spend the night over. Tomorrow I'm going to return to active duty. Seeing as I'm healthy.'

That made me think. Didn't the doctor say that I had to spend, what, two weeks in the hospital? I voiced this thought.

'As long as you don't push yourself, the doctor has no objection to you spending time in a different environment.' said the asari. 'And I am glad to have some time to spend with you.'

A suspicion, a very strong suspicion, formed in my mind. A suspicion that there was something going on and that I was the only one who didn't know of the specifics.

I didn't respond to Meinela's words. I wasn't sure what to say, regardless.

'You don't want to rest from fighting?' I asked Jean instead.

'Well, we don't really get into many fights. It's just one here, a few months of nothing and then one there. I'll be fine.'

I wasn't sure what she sounded like and didn't press her. No point in annoying people.

As we stepped out of the car I saw where I would be living. It was a house, or maybe a villa, I couldn't be sure. It was tall and grand and very much high standard. It wasn't like one of the millionaire houses, where gold and diamonds would decorate every surface, it was more like a home, only a home for me and a family.

My suspicion strengthening, I followed the group up to the house. I had to make my imprint on the door so that it would recognize me and open. Father and the asari had already done this and Jean refused to.

We spent some time chatting and worked our way up to the dinner part. For every hour that passed, I got more and more agitated. As if there was something wrong with the picture I was seeing, only I couldn't figure out what it was. I knew the source of it, of course. Who were the asari? And why were they here? And why did Meinela keep trying to talk to me? Well no, the last one is obvious. I'd seen my picture in the news a few times now. She must want to ask me about Akuze.

In order to get rid of the suspicion I had, I decided to steel myself and tell her about Akuze, seeing how she wanted to know something about it. And the next time we spoke, she did bring up Akuze, only not how I'd expected her to.

'You are very quiet.' she said, sitting down beside me on the couch. We'd already had dinner.

'I'm just thinking.' I replied, truthfully.

'I know that it must have been hard for you.' she looked at me intently. 'To lose your mother. All your friends. But I am glad that you have found a way to deal with it. I do not wish to bring up painful memories but to bring comfort.'

'Comfort?' I asked, blankly. Had father hired a psycho person? He thought that I was depressed?

'Comfort in that you are alive. That your father is here with you. And that, despite all that has happened, the Galaxy is still a wondrous place to live in.' she explained.

It did sound comforting. Sort of. I still didn't know why she was here, but I felt soothed. For the moment.

The talking went on until late into the night, with little contribution from my side. As on the Presidium, there was no actual night here in the Winds and so I was worried that they'd never shut up. With that thought I realized that it was late enough for us to go to sleep. I didn't get groggy until past ten pm.

'I wish that you could stay.' I said to Jean, for perhaps the hundredth time.

'Hey, if you join the military or become a ship's engineer then we might see each other again. Or I might come by from time to time, who knows.'

She waved a goodbye to my father and the asari and departed in a military shuttle where two very hard-looking men were looking about as if expecting this to be an ambush.

I felt sad that she had to leave because, though I didn't really know her that well, she seemed to be one of those people that was a rock to others. It was a selfish thought, but a comforting one that I might one day serve on the same ship she does.

As we entered the house I felt a shift in the mood around me. As if we were all about to dive into molten lava and had forgotten our bathing suits.

'Numine.' said father in a formal voice. I tried not to flinch. This was going to be about Akuze again, I could feel it.

I turned around, to look up at father. At first I didn't really register what I saw. It didn't really seem important. He was holding Meinela's hand and the asari girl, couldn't remember her name, was standing next to them. But as no one said anything, the symbolism became clearer.

I took two steps forwards and slapped the asari as hard as I could, feeling a sharp pain in my hand and I felt a savage pleasure at knowing that she would hurt more than I was, physically at any rate.

'Numine!' growled my father in anger. 'How dare-...'

I didn't care. I now finally realized what had been nagging at me for so long. Why the asari was here. And why she had a "key" into the "family" house. Because she was family. Because father had already found a replacement for mother. Mother who had worked day and night so that she could go and see him. For once, I did feel hatred, I wanted to beat them all into bloody messes. They hadn't seen how happy the prospect of returning to father had made her. Or how her hands had looked, with broken skin here and there from the machines she operated. And they didn't even seem to realize that she was now dead. And that she had worked in vain.

The house felt like a prison. A death-trap with only one way out. I took that way out. I embraced it willingly. I ran away.

I could still hear the shouts of my father and the higher pitched calls of Meinela but didn't look back. I thought that I could find my way back to the presidium, all I had to do was to find the river and follow it up towards that giant circle that connected all of Citadel's arms.

And I'd never been good at running, so I was reduced to a fast-paced walk as soon as I couldn't hear the calls of my father and, what was she now? My mother? No. She was an asari. An alien. An exotic beast, more than a mother.

But as I passed people on my way to the Presidium, or more accurately, as I passed asari on my way I realized that I couldn't maintain this view on them. Not that I didn't want to. I'd have dearly loved to slap them again. But if I was to live on the Citadel, I'd have to get over my issues. As soon as I saw the river I went into the nearest bar I could find. I was intent on finding any lone asari and talk to her. It never once occurred to me that I was being rash. But as I entered the bar I realized that it was a turian bar, where turians, and even a few quarians, were sitting and talking.

I was about to leave but my legs were very tired and my mind had gotten the better of me. I knew that I had to rest, or I'd be back in the hospital and I knew that I couldn't fix anything at the moment. Time would have to do it for me. So I sat down behind a table and looked at the menu. I had a large amount of credits on my omni tool, more than I'd ever had before, and was certain that I could, if nothing else, pay for a meal.

'I'd be careful if I were you.' said a turian, sitting down across from me. He didn't sound mean, only amused. 'Most of the stuff they serve would kill any human within an hour.'

'It would?' I swallowed, looking down at the menu again. Only now did I notice the fine script at the top. "Only krogan, turian and quarian digestive systems. Batarians be warned."

'Yeah. I once saw a salarian try one of those.' he pointed towards a bowl of tiny blue marble-like balls. 'He lost his sight and fell into the river in panic.'

'Oh.' I said, surprised and alarmed. 'Did he live?'

'Oh yeah, the Keepers did a swift job of fishing him up. But he's still blind.' shrugged the turian.

'Oh.' I said again, feeling awkward.

'Ah, don't mind me. I'm Garrus by the way.' he offered his hand.

'I'm Min.'

'And why, though I don't mean to pry, is a human in a turian bar?' he pried anyway.

'I was just looking for somewhere to sit.' I said. There was no good explanation for why I'd come in here.

'I see.' he said in a voice that was completely and utterly disbelieving. 'To sit?'

'Well, I didn't know that I'd be poisoned.' I offered.

'Right.' he nodded, his voice clearing.

I couldn't read his facial expressions. His face was a reptilian one, with blue markings. I noticed the C-Sec badge attached to his collar.

'Oh. Are you a C-Sec officer? Are you on stakeout?' I asked, looking about.

He laughed.

'No. I'm off duty. But I think I might have seen you before somewhere.' he said, thoughtful.

'Yes, you have.' I said darkly. 'I'm the Akuze survivor.'

'That's it!' he clapped. 'Yes. I'm sorry about that, by the way.'

I just shrugged.

'I'd heard that you got a medal. Someone like you shouldn't be in a place like this.'

I blinked.

'Why? What's wrong with this place?'

'I suppose that, being new to the Citadel you won't notice, but this isn't the finest bar on the Presidium. This is the outskirts of Presidium, as a matter of fact. Almost as bad as the Wards, only not as dirty.' he looked meaningfully at the very loud group of turians that sat a few tables away.

'I don't mind.' I shrugged. 'I... just need to think, alright?'

I wasn't sure why I hadn't asked him to leave me alone yet.

'Alright. But a word of caution,' he looked at me seriously, 'there are people who hold a grudge that you survived.'

'Wha-...' but he was walking away, not looking at me anymore.

What did he mean? How could _anyone_ hold a grudge that I survived? Why? I didn't know anyone on the Citadel for them to hold a grudge against me. And did this mean that I'd be supervised by C-Sec? I wanted to run after him and ask him, but running seemed like a stupid thing to do.

I closed my eyes, trying to think. None of this mattered. What did matter what that asari slut and my father... no, not my father, and that _man_ who were waiting for me.

What should I do? I tried to consider all sides of this event. Much like the thresher maws on Akuze, I had to focus on one singly move to end this quickly and without any more confrontation.

It struck me that, this wasn't the asari's fault. Everyone, me included, were attracted to them. And I'd bet anything on that Meinela hadn't been married when she met my fath-.. That man. But he had been. He had known full well the consequences of his actions and then felt guilty and decided to atone. To save himself from the guilt.

No, the asari wasn't the bad guy. That man was. And I can't live with a stranger in my house. So I'll have to move. I have the credits. And with my engineering skills, I'll find a job on a ship. Maybe on an Alliance vessel. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll serve with Jean. I'd very much like that.

But can I? Is it that simple? Should I just leave them? I felt hesitation at that thought.

No. If I won't do this now, doing it later will be harder. I've already lost everything. A little more won't be as hard to lose now.

I got up, determined and terrified out of my wits. A part of me was screaming at me, telling me that I was being rash and foolish. But another part, that same part that had helped me on Akuze, was telling me to do this now, while I still have the nerve.

My heart beat a violent rhythm as I approached the door to what should have been my home. Instead, it was a house.

'Numine!' shouted my father, anger and relief on his face, making it rather contorted.

'Don't touch me.' I hissed at him in a very offensive tone that made him scowl. 'I came here to get some things.'

'Get things?' he asked, not sure of what I meant.

'I'm not going to live with someone like you in the vicinity.' I replied with all the venom I could muster.

He sighed in a way that suggested that he had expected this reaction and that he felt it was irrational for me to be angry.

'You must hear me out, Min. This isn't what it looks like.' he urged. Or maybe pleaded.

'Hear what?' I snapped. 'How sorry you are or what a mistake this is?' I steeled myself in order to say the stupid words that I didn't want to say. 'You don't know!' and that sounded like any adolescent teenager with daddy issues, but I didn't halt. 'You didn't see mother and how she was excited to see you! I suppose one good thing about her being dead is that she won't see what a pig you are!' I raged.

He winced as my words struck him like physical blows.

'Numine...' said Meinela quietly. I could see the bruise my slap had left and felt a twinge of guilt. 'He is right. This is not what it looks like to you. Would you please-...'

'No. I know that "chance" was responsible for you "encounter". Otherwise you wouldn't dare show your face. It doesn't matter. This is the worst insult he could have done against mother. This man isn't my father. This man is just that. A man.'

I didn't look at either of them as I packed the few things I had. The clothes they'd bought for me. That's all.

'I love your mother. I love her more than anything else. But I love Meinela and Jeina equally much. As I do you. If you give me a chance-...'

'You'll justify it all.' I said, not looking at them. I was packed. I was ready to leave. And my feet were moving towards the door.

'Why will you not give me a chance?' asked the asari in desperation. That made me stop.

'It is not your fault.' I said quietly. 'You are not the one who forgot and dishonoured your family. He is. And I can leave with a clear conscience, knowing that you will be happy. The one thing I regret is that _he_ won't get what's coming to him.'

And I left. I left as fast as I could, finding a taxi to take me to the human hospital. I wanted to get a check-up because of the throbbing in my various body parts.

While sitting in the automated shuttle I couldn't help but feel the pangs of guilt and anxiety that tortured me. But I did manage to keep the tears back. I managed to trick my mind into believing that a better future was ahead. That I was now independent and free. And I tried not to feel the fear of those words. What could I do now? How did one apply for jobs? How did one pay taxes? How did one live alone? I didn't know. And these were only the everyday, mundane things that I'd have to deal with.

But what was my plan for the future? I didn't want a "normal" job. I didn't want to go back to the colony life. Akuze had changed me. I needed things to do. I needed a rush. And where would I find one?

I checked my bank account. It held fifty thousand credits. It was roughly ten stellar years of rent and food, if I saved the money. I thought back to that market. No, the money wouldn't last past two years, maximum.

So why not indulge myself? Why not find out who was responsible for my mother's death. Who the murderers were. It would make up for father's betrayal. More or less. It would allow me to avenge her. And, if things played out the right way, I might even die there. No more troubles. Just simple and inconsequential death. I felt eager at the prospect and it worried me. Was I suicidal? No. I was just very tired.

My omni tool flashed and I saw a message telling me that mother's funeral was being held. I deleted the message. I would honour her my way, not the human way. The human's betrayed us. And the aliens distrusted us. And so I'd have to do this on my own.

The shuttle arrived at the hospital, making me remember what I'd done. I shivered as I realized that I had actually run away from home. And that I wasn't able to undo that. I wouldn't apologize. Not to him.

'Oh? Numine. I thought that you would want to stay at home and rest there.' said the doctor as I entered his office.

'It's complicated.' I said, trying to make him move on to my well being.

'What isn't?' he chuckled. Seeing my expression he decided to skip the bad jokes and get to the issue at hand. 'What can I help you with?'

'Everything is starting to hurt. Am I in trouble?'

He moved closer to me and felt my throat, looked at my pupils and pressed a few buttons on his omni tool. It scanned me and made a few beeping noises.

'Hmm... You have more cadmium in your blood than you should. I'd advise you not to drink water for a while. Drink tea, juices or anything else you can think of. The cadmium is reacting poorly with the eye implant. It will pass in a few days.' he said reassuringly. 'And you have broken down a lot of muscle tissue. Have you been running?'

'I... yes. But not much.'

He sighed in exasperation.

'You shouldn't be running at all! I will spell it out to you: The radiation has weakened your body. It can't perform the same things that it could two months back. You can't run. And you can't jump. Not just yet, anyway.' he sent an application to my omni tool. 'This will tell you when the radiation's effect has worn off and then you can run, jump, climb buildings and wrestle with krogan battlemasters as much as you like.'

I nodded guiltily. So I couldn't run or jump. What a big change that would make. Now I wouldn't be able to do what I've never done before.

'Maybe you should stay here for a few more days. I don't think that you can handle this on your own.'

'No, I'll be fine. It was a one time thing. I have a place to stay and I won't be leaving it.'

He scrutinized me carefully before nodding.

'Alright. But come back if you still have trouble with pain.'

I nodded reassuringly to him and left his office. Outside, I had no idea what to do next. Back in the bar I'd had the feeling that I knew exactly what to do next. Now, however, I was lost.

I decided to check my omni tool for information.

I found several places that one could rent on the Citadel. A few posts where they needed a mechanic. But the thing that caught my eye was the post on the Atlas, an Alliance scouting frigate. They were hiring civilian engineers for the upcoming journey that would take them to the Terminus systems.

This was something that I couldn't pass up.

'Are you mad?'

I shrieked and jumped from surprise.

'What the..? What are you doing here?'

It was the turian from before, in the bar. He was looking... well I couldn't tell what he looked like, but I could feel the annoyance emanating from him.

'I suppose that your ignorance can be excused by the fact that you are from a human colony. But normally, when you are being warned by the police that someone has a grudge against you, one does not run away from home.'

'I... how do you know I ran away?'

'Your parents want you back home.'

'That doesn't sound like them.'

'That's what I thought.' he muttered, 'I took the hint when the address to which you were supposed to be returned to was in the Wards.'

'You mean the Winds.' I frowned, trying to make out what he was suggesting.

'If I'd meant the Winds, I'd have said the Winds. Someone is taking advantage of your isolation.'

'Oh.' I stared at him as the implications of what he said sank in. 'But wait. If I had arrived in the Wards I could tell to whomever brought me that it was the wrong place.' I said, thinking it through.

'Maybe they weren't planning to have you come that far.' he shrugged. 'Or maybe they'd bought off the cop.'

'How do I know I can trust you?' I asked shrewdly.

'You don't.' he said simply.

'Look, it doesn't matter. I'm going to work on an Alliance scouting vessel. Loads of soldiers. I'll be fine.'

He considered this.

'Alright. I'll follow you to the docking bay, as it's through the wards. And I don't want to see you doing more stupid things like this.'

He took me all the way through the Wards, which were indeed rather dark and suspicious, to C-Sec and then up to the Alliance docking bay.

There were a lot of men in fancy, military attires, walking about very importantly but doing nothing in particular. A quarian stormed past me, swearing loudly in salarian and quarian. The combination sounded very fierce and made my cheeks go red.

The turian hung back, not approaching the Alliance soldiers and engineers.

'Hi. I'm here to apply for the civilian engineer post. I know that I look young but I assure you that I am competent. If you want, I could demonstrate what I can do.' I said confidently to the captain of the ship, who's name was captain Mournat.

He looked at me levelly.

'Alright. Come with me and show me what you can do.' he said, leading me towards the ship's engines. 'We got in a fire fight a few day ago and lost our shields. Luckily we got away in time. Upon coming out of the mass relay we hit some debris and it damaged one of our engines.'

I scanned the engine with my omni tool. I was clean. The damage was only cosmetic.

'The engine is fine.' I said, frowning. It didn't look fine.

'Right. Get out.' said the captain, already walking away.

I scanned the surroundings of the engine. There was something clotting up the mobile mechanics. I looked about to make sure that no one was looking and hacked one of the repair drones. I had to dismantle a tiny part of the connection ledge that concealed the motorics and the power routes that went straight to the engine. The debris was still in there. It hadn't gone away, it was the reason for the bent engine. The repair drone removed it in an almost surgical way and patched up the hole.

'Captain!' I called. I didn't need to, he was standing just beside me, watching me intently.

'What's your name?' he asked, smiling slightly.

'My name is Min Shin'ichi.'

That brought him up short.

'The one from Akuze?'

I nodded, resigned. This would probably follow me until the day I died.

'Ah... Look. You're good and all, but... I can't hire you. You should just go and get some rest. Yes, that would be best. Go and get some rest.'

'What? No, I want this job.' I said, upset. 'Look, give me something more technical and I can fix that as well.'

He shook his head, wringing his hands.

'No. It's best... we're not hiring anyone at the moment... Yes, you had better go.'

'But...'

'That's an order.'

I looked at him in disbelief for a moment. This was a horrible day.

'What happened?' asked the turian as I returned, looking sulky.

'I have no idea. One moment he was about to say that I was hired and the next he looked all scared and worried.' I shook my head. I now understood why the quarian had been swearing and, had it been in my nature, I'd have cursed the captain to every level of hell.

The turian said nothing in a way that sounded a lot like "told you so".

'Look, what the hell is going on here, Garett? I'm really starting to freak out.'

'Garrus.' he corrected. 'Come, I'll tell you what I can.'

'Wait. You know what's going on and yet you allowed me to walk around like an idiot?'

'I don't know what's going on. I had no idea that the Alliance wouldn't accept you. I wanted you off Citadel to save us all trouble.'

And then we entered the central wards.

'Holy cow.' I whispered.

Now I understood what they had meant about unblocking traffic. There were thousands of shuttles flying about, overhead and straight ahead as the whole of Citadel splayed out before us. A million lights were lit in the dark of the Wards and, from my vantage point, it seemed like a portrait of a digital world.

'There must be millions of people living here. And dozens of races.'

'Yeah. And no end of trouble.' said Garrus bracingly.

'Because of officers like you, Vakarian.' said someone from behind.

I jumped and wheeled about to face the newcomer. It was another C-Sec officer, only this one had a more official uniform. More dots on the collar. He had a higher rank.

'Chief Inspector Voreth.' saluted Garrus, soberly.

'Isn't this the Shin'ichi girl?' asked the inspector.

'She is.'

'And why is she wandering around the Wards, instead of being home with her family?'

'She ran away, sir.'

I noticed that Garrus wasn't really paying any attention to the questions or the man asking them. He was simply... bored. But not in a particularly perceptible way.

The inspector massaged his... equivalent of brows.

'But what the hell is she doing _here_?'

'I was taking her to a safe house. As my apartment is flagged as one of them and we already have a connection I thought that it would be appropriate for me to take her there until we find the risk.' after a second's pause he added; 'Sir.'

The inspector nodded and began walking away.

'No, wait! Look, I still don-...'

'Do not speak of such matters in public.' said Garrus, placing his arm on my shoulder. 'Let's go.'

He steered me through a crowd of people in a way that made me sure he knew that we were being followed. We were. A woman with unnaturally black hair had crossed my path twice in different places of the crowd.

'Garrus...' I tugged at his arm.

'Don't worry, it's just the foreplay.' he said calmly. 'They'll lose us as soon as we take the taxi and they know it. There are too many people here.'

He was right. The taxi we took was only accessible because Garrus flashed his C-Sec badge to get to it. And no other shuttle was anywhere near the landing.

'Why are there so many people here?'

'It's that day...' he said, trying to remember. 'It's the... Well the day that human and turians made peace. We don't celebrate it. There have been too many wars for us to fit them all into one fiscal year.'

I nodded. I hadn't realized that this day existed. We didn't have many special days to celebrate back at the colony. There were birthdays, Christmas and Easter. Then there was the asari holiday, Ardat Iknai. I had no idea what was so special about Christmas or Easter, I guess that they were famous people in some way. The one I knew a bit about was Ardat Iknai. It's an old, old for humans, celebration where one contemplates one's ambitions and goals. It starts at the dusk of the first day of the first week of summer and ends at the dawn of the last day of the first week of summer.

Who came up with those rules I don't know. But it did give people one week off from school and work.

No one was too sure about how long Christmas was supposed to last, so it varied between two to three weeks. And Easter was simply ridiculous. We'd have holograms of bunnies run around and hide eggs in the oddest places like shoes, light bulbs and balloons.

I quickly shut those memories away in fear that I might start doing something embarrassing like crying.

'So... can you tell me now?' I asked after five minutes of silence.

'No patience, eh? Well, it all started a few days back when we found a shipment of odd cargo. It wasn't illegal or even bad, just clothes and shoes, that kind of things. But it didn't register on any scans so we had a look. Inside was a note to someone called Jeirre. It was a list of names. Most of them were from your colony but some were from places like Feros and Bastion.' he looked at me, ignoring the flight path or the speeding shuttles. 'Your name was one of them.'

'Why? What does that mean?'

'Well, as far as we can tell, you're the only one alive out of all those names. A bit of detective work tells us that many of those deaths were suspicious. Nothing tells us that they were staged, arranged or that anything odd was going on. Until Akuze.'

'Ah... but why did they send that note in a container full of clothes?'

'We're still working on that one. They're second hand clothes, but whom they belonged to or whether they have a significance I don't know.'

'And why am I in danger again?' I tried to wrap my head around all of this but it still made no sense.

'Because you are the only survivor amongst five hundred and seventy two. Something's going on and it's going on here, on the Citadel. It's also going on around the Skyllian Verge, in the human colonies. That's all we know at the moment.'

This wasn't very illuminating. True, I knew that there was a note with my name on it, a death list or something, and that it arrived in the most unorthodox fashion, but that only told me of how much I really didn't know.

'And where are you taking me?' I asked, wrapping this up.

'Didn't you pay attention? My apartment is a safe house. You'll stay there for a week. Then, if this isn't resolved I'll see if I can get you off the Citadel.'

'Why can't I leave the Citadel now?'

'Do you_ want_ to leave the Citadel now?'

I didn't know. I had been ready to leave back there, with the prospect of just getting away from all of it. But now... things seemed more complicated.

'One week?'

'One week.'

Garrus's apartment was basically a safe house. There was almost no personality in it. Only two pictures of him and two other turians, family I guessed. A vase with no flowers. The furnishing was nice, but I suspected that this is the stuff he'd bought along with the apartment.

There were two rooms, bathroom, kitchen and a balcony that overlooked the wards. He seemed to live up on the hundredth or so floor. Shuttles zoomed by with a speed that I was sure that no Mako in the galaxy could ever reach.

'You live here?' I asked, impressed and disappointed at the same time.

'Yeah. But I spend most of my time looking for criminals. Red sand dealers are popping up more than usual nowadays. Blue roots are becoming fashionable again and ecstasy is literally making blood flow.'

I didn't recognize any of those drugs and was really impressed with Garrus for knowing them. We'd had one on the colony, LSD. I'd tried it once, because everyone said that it was such a great drug. After about ten pills I decided to give up on drugs. Nothing happened aside from me sleeping more than usual.

'So I must really be a burden then.' I said, judging his reaction to my words.

'Nope. Though I have, for instance, no idea what humans eat. I've never been out to shop groceries before.'

I stared at him in disbelief.

'Never? Well what do you eat?'

'We have a canteen in C-Sec. I usually eat there, it's cheap and I don't have to cook. And my only previous visitors were a batarian family. They'd brought all the food with them, along with stereos and vids. Noisy like hell.'

'Why did you have them here?' I got the impression that he didn't much like batarians.

'Because my apartment is flagged as a safe house, seeing as I'm rarely here. And I can't ignore an order, as much as I'd like to.' he sniggered. 'They were here for two days. They got shot on that couch you're sitting on.'

I looked at him blankly, processing the info. It took me four seconds to realize what he had said. I jumped up form the couch.

'Ah! Eww! Why's your house a safe house if people have died here?' I squealed.

'Relax, I shot them.'

This didn't make me feel remotely better. He seemed to realize what he had said and decided to explain.

'They weren't the ones on the run, they were the ones who were hunting the victim. Intel had dropped that ball.' he shook his head in annoyance. 'They'd realized that we were on to them and decided to shoot their way out. I wasn't having any of that.' he shrugged. 'Took me hours to clean up the mess.'

The cold way in which he spoke of killing but the fierce way in which he spoke about the justice system made me feel uncomfortable. I didn't like killing and justice systems were a point of protection for me.

'And what about the victim?'

'She was an asari dancer. She'd heard the wrong things and ran for it. As far as we know she's somewhere in the Terminus systems, Ilium probably.'

I sighed. This was a very bad and strange day. I'd almost forgotten how it had started and felt anger resurface at the thought of how my father had betrayed me. Betrayed mother's memory. Sold himself to some asari.

There was something odd about asari, something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. It was as they were... Well, if I knew then I wouldn't be puzzled, would I?

And that thought kept me distracted while Garrus went to buy groceries. He had left a good deal of security upgrades on, so that I had to confirm every time I went from room to room, looking around.

He had a sniper rifle near his bed. A bed that was made for two, but seemed cold and unused.

I was complaining about being lonely, but this man was nothing more than a C-Sec tool. What kind of parentage did one need to have for such total devotion?

'Alright, I got fogria, noodles, or is it noddles? Never mind. And I got mirmak.'

'Mirmak is a quarian gravy.' I said, amused.

'Oh. Well, we'll use it as fertilizer for the salarian plants I bought as well. There's vorcha nails, varren steak and sashi, no wait, sushi. Hear anything you like?'

'Why did you buy plants?'

'I didn't notice the notice "only for salarians". Sorry.'

I shook my head.

'Well, you did pretty well otherwise. Though... vorcha nails?'

He thought for a second.

'Oh, right. That's krogan appetizers.' he shook his head. 'Having so many races in one place makes markets for low income very confusing. There used to be one, Atras, but it got shut down after a fire fight there.'

'So. Sushi is fish. And noddles-...'

'Noodles.'

'Right, they are wheat. And varren is meat. I think that we'll eat together.' he said, trying to figure it out.

'Couldn't we have ordered?'

'This is a safe house for a reason. As far as VIs are concerned, this apartment doesn't exist. It's not registered anywhere. So I pay taxes for some tiny hut down at the bottom of the Wards. Saves me about four hundred creds per month.'

'So no pizza?'

He shook his head, pushing buttons on the kitchen controls. I'd seen flight controls, cockpits and Mako interiors. Compared to this kitchen they seemed like child's play.

He pushed buttons for about ten minutes until I decided to take things into my own hands.

'Um... this is off record, right?' I said, activating my omni tool.

'I won't arrest you for hacking an oven.'

And I did. It was a huge mess of commands. Finally I found the ones that were heat and time.

'Good. Just put the meat in and we'll see what it becomes. No wait! This isn't Celsius. How hot is this?'

He checked my omni tool and did some mental math.

'In Celsius? A little over nine hundred degrees.'

Right. I'd have to learn a new temperature measure as well, if I wanted to live on the Citadel. Or in this galaxy.

'So this would make it around one hundred and twenty?' I asked, reducing the amount.

'No, that's... fifty.'

'God damn it. Who came up with this system?'

He just shrugged.

Eventually I checked the extranet for instructions on how to prepare meat and what the Nemia equivalent of a hundred and twenty Celsius was.

'You know, it would have been easier to just light a fire.' I said, returning to the living room.

'You seem cheerful.' he commented, looking up from his rifle. 'I was worried that I'd have to comfort you the whole week.'

I thought about that. It seemed that I had managed to come to terms with how I had left my "family". I loved my mother. And I was going to avenge her. I had that thought firmly in mind. Then there was my father. I knew that he was hurt by me not accepting the woman he loved, which made me feel better and worse at the same time. And then there was this mystery that was hunting me. It was terrifying and very confusing, but for some reason Garrus made it seem like a game or a joke. My whole body hurt more than ever, but I'd gotten my hands on some medi-gel in Garrus's first aid kit and that had decent painkillers in it.

All in all, I was just tired. And confused. This day seemed so not worth it.

Instead of saying anything about this however, I decided to return attention to him.

'Do you fire that rifle often?'

'No. There's not much call for rifles in the district to which I was transferred. A badge does its job. But from time to time we get all kinds of people. Bomb threats, racists, all of that. The batarian incident was the most violent event we'd had in a decade. It's hard to break the law here.'

'There are districts with more violence?'

'This isn't the Terminus systems. Law is the rule, not a taboo around here. The further away from Citadel you get the worse it gets. But here, there's barely any.'

I nodded, thoughtful. He had strong views on law, the way he spoke about it.

'Then what's wrong?'

'What do you mean?'

'You sound as if that's not a good thing.'

He sighed, looking down.

'You're the first human I've known to be so perceptive around turians.' he pointed out.

That was true. I was more perceptive than usual. I'd read somewhere that panic heightens your senses. If I was in panic, then I'd be more sensitive. It made sense.

'I'm having a... weird day.' I said, not sure how to summarize.

'Does this kind of thing happen often?'

'Since Akuze or before?' I asked, trying to figure out if it did or not.

Come to think of it, a lot of weird stuff has happened to me during my life. These past few days are simply an elevation of extremeness.

'In all.' he said.

'Ah... more or less. Though it seems to be getting worse lately.' I thought back to the time when I had accidentally drowned an Alliance frigate. Maybe that's why they didn't let me work there?

'Sounds like a story.' he said, interestedly.

'More then I'd like to admit.' I muttered.

We talked a bit more about C-Sec and he hoped that I'd be comfortable while they caught the people out to get me while I said that I hoped I wasn't a burden and throughout dinner we were very polite and civil and I was very ready to go to bed after we were done.

'I'll take the couch.' he offered. 'I've never used the bed, anyway.'

It was odd, this huge bed in which, even if I stretched as far as I could I didn't touch the edges of it. And it was cold. And very lonely.

In the darkness of the Wards and the silence and comfort I was able to finally grasp what had happened to me. Grasp and cry about it. For now, my family was shattered beyond repair. All I could do now was to go on alone.

I thought of Garrus. Didn't he have someone? Was he also alone? I checked the living room where he was sitting and writing a report. I couldn't tell. He was too cold and preserved to be calculated. But I found myself trusting him. At least not to kill me in my sleep. And not to betray me like my own father had. And, though maybe I was paranoid, I thought that because he didn't say goodnight, nor expect it from me, he must have been just as lonely before me as I was right now.

Waking up was a painful affair. I had a rash everywhere, which made the morning routine very uninviting and I had lost some motoric ability in my left arm. Luckily, Garrus was a turian and saw no difference in my appearance, even when I pointed it out to him.

'I can see the red, but it's not that different really. The shape is still the same and the expression doesn't seem to vary too much.' he shook his head. 'I'll call your doctor to pay you a visit, you shouldn't leave the safe house, there's a chance that you'll be followed.'

The way he was acting around me was as if he was embarrassed. I guessed that he had little experience in babysitting and didn't like the prospect of it.

'I've got a call from the Chief Inspector. He says that there is a thread to be picked up from a previous C-Sec employee. He's turned into an information broker, but a good one. A detective, more than not. I expect that this will be over soon enough.'

A few minutes after Garrus had left the doctor arrived, a bag with supplies in his hand and a harassed look on his face.

'Something wrong?' I asked, inviting him in.

'No, no. God, no. Just... crowded.' he lied. I guessed that he had been followed as well.

'Will they find a way in?' I asked, not really worried but wanting to get rid of the tiring pretences.

He looked at me sharply but then his gaze faltered.

'I don't know. I met your turian friend on the way and he took the woman into custody on some false charge. She's probably out by now, but she didn't see me entering.' he shook his head in distress. 'You have a very interesting life, miss Shin'ichi. Running away, then getting cooped up.'

'I'm planning on leaving as soon as I get a post on a star ship.' I said defensively.

'Yes, of course.' he said, not meeting my eyes.

He looked me over with pursed lips.

'This is good.' he said eventually.

'What? How is this,' I gestured towards myself in general, 'good?'

'It is good because it's a rash. A visible symptom. If you had a headache then there would be no way to confirm my suspicions, but this is obvious and therefore good.'

I didn't understand what he meant but he scanned me and took a blood sample.

'Yes, I thought as much.' he nodded wisely. 'The dark spot in your brain is a corruption created by the strong radiation. It isn't dead, but it's not your brain any more. It's more like a clump of very solid cells. Do you understand so far?' I nodded to show that I was following. 'These cells give off a signal substance, a cellular pheromone if you like, to the rest of the brain. All I have to do is give you the antidote.' he smiled.

'And do you have it?'

'I'll have to figure out what kind of chemical we are dealing with. Taking that medi-gel might have been a mistake, because your cadmium levels have risen and I assume that you took medi-gel for the pain?'

I nodded again, a little scared now. He must have noticed because he said in a reassuring tone of voice.

'If I thought that you were in any danger from this then I would never have allowed you to leave the hospital. This is abnormal, yes, but curable, treatable and all the rest.'

He was lying. He was a very good liar, but there is some body language that can't be faked. He had no idea what this was. Though he was probably confident that he could neutralize it, at least.

I nodded.

He took a few more scans and then took out a computer out of his doctor's bag. It ran a number of simulations, showing how my brain was likely to react to different stimuli, like antibiotics, lithium, gold. Eventually he found a number of solid looking simulations.

'It seems that you have a toxin that is unidentifiable.' he frowned. 'But not untreatable.'

He was silent for a very long moment, allowing the effects of treated eezo to repeat themselves on the screen. I didn't know what it showed, but it seemed to impress the doctor.

'I don't know how to say this...' he began anyways and my heart sank. ', but there is a favour I must ask of you. You are free to decline, of course, but...'

'What is it? Just say it.' I said a bit more forcefully than I intended.

'I want you to keep this dark spot.' he said. Bluntly. And simply.

'Ah... ok. Why? Or rather, I didn't really know that it could be removed, so...' I had no good answer to that at all. It didn't really matter to me.

'This is a cyst, as far as your body is concerned. And it is poisoning you. A simple shot of dextrocalvedol will neutralize it, likely for the rest of your life, but if it isn't killed with, say, a coctail of dextrocalvedol and succeromarine then you will suffer the side effects of it for the rest of your life.'

'What side effects?'

'Well... it's location means that you might suffer schizophrenia, paranoia, basically anything that affects your personality. But if neutralized then it will not affect you in a way that you won't be able to notice or affect. In fact, it might just provide valuable insights.'

'Look, dumb it down. If I keep it, what then? Will I go nuts and climb trees or just get an occasional cough?'

'Occasional stress.' he nodded.

'And if I remove it, then... what?'

'Not remove it, that can't be done. Kill it completely and dissolve it. That would be painful but only for a short period of time. No more side effects. But I then I won't be able to study the effect it has on you.'

'Wait.' I said, raising one hand. 'A dead piece of flesh is always bad.'

'It will dissolve, spread through your blood stream and get picked up by the liver. Hence the pain.'

I thought this through. It didn't seem like a good idea. Aside from the fact that I was certain that my arteries and veins weren't big enough for something like that, I didn't like the idea of pain much either.

'No, no. Keep it. I like, ah, cysts.' I said, panicking slightly.

'I didn't do the suggestion of removal justice.' he said apologetically. 'It's quite as safe as keeping. More so, in fact.'

'I don't care. It's mine, right? I'll keep it.' I was certain that I didn't want tampering with my brain, so keeping it, whatever it was, seemed like the logical thing to do.

'Alright.' he sighed in relief and distress. 'I've put my foot in my mouth, might as well start chewing.'

I stared at him, not sure what he meant.

He injected me with a red solution that felt warm and pleasant when it entered my body. Like a hot shower.

My sight went white for a few seconds, making me lose balance and clutch the couch very tightly.

'Wow. What is this?' I panicked as I realized that I wasn't worried about it. It was some kind of hallucinogen. Then I realized that I was worried and became even more worried that I might be going mad. Then I worried that I might be paranoid and worry too much. The last bit worried me a lot.

'It's a methanol based solution. But the toxin would counteract it, so don't worry.' he said, unsure.

'You injected methanol into me!' I shrieked. 'What kind of a doctor does that! I thought that there was an oath that prohibited you from medical murder!'

He took me firmly by the shoulders and spoke calmly.

'This will be over soon. There isn't enough methanol to cause damage and the toxin will counteract any that exists. It will simply reduce the spread of the toxin in your brain and scorch the outside of the cyst.'

I couldn't think clearly anymore. My mind was wandering in circles. Thoughts of mother and father, Garrus, thresher maws, Jean, the ambassador, the Alliance scouting vessel, the note with my name, amongst many, on it.

And somehow... it all made sense to me. It was as if...

And then the effects vanished as if they had never existed. I hadn't realized that I was on the bed. The doctor must have put me there. I sat up to ask him about how it went but he was gone. I frowned. Had I fallen asleep? Lost consciousness? As far as I could tell only seconds had passed. I checked my watch. The date had changed. Twenty seven hours had passed.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The asari and the damn fogria

The week dragged. It didn't drag like a mule or bull pulling a plow. It dragged like a snail dragging a mule and a plow. At first I had expected reports and updates on the goings on but I quickly found out that nothing was happening. They were walking and talking, but no progress was made on the case. The big criminals, the gang leaders, the drug dealers and the rats all agreed on one thing: they had no idea what anyone could want with me.

So I started connecting to passing by mobile extranet terminals to hack the governmental databases, which were encrypted, true, but not inaccessible. There was a moderators entrance which had barely any security and I managed to scour the military databanks of the Alliance before I got shut out of the system.

I also managed to get information about the Council maintenance reports, the Volus governmental economical plans and the database of some project called the Shadow Broker.

That one was rather interesting, telling me about some really obscure things about some of the people on the Citadel. But none of what I found was of any importance to the case, though Garrus received a bounty for the Shadow Broker cache when he presented it to C-Sec.

'So have you made up your mind?' asked Garrus, in what I now recognized as turian.

He had bought me an upgrade for my omni tool that translated the common languages into english for me. I'd gotten one that translated things to japanese as well, but since I wasn't that good at japanese, my money had been wasted.

'About what?'

'Are you staying on the Citadel or going away?'

I had given it some thought. A lot of thought, being cooped up in this safe house all day. But with over five hundred channels, I could forgive this isolation. Most of the channels had been adult, with Garrus assuring me that he had never used the TV before in his life and that it must have been the batarians who'd installed all the channels.

The way I figured, if I stay then I'm a burden. But where to go? Garrus had told me that Ilium would be the safest place for me to be as long as I didn't sign any contracts there. Ilium was as safe a zone for someone hunted by someone else that he could think of and he seemed to be very certain of that. But wouldn't I still have to be cooped up in some tiny apartment all the time?

I'd imagined that I would leave, get a job on a ship and adventure through the stars, but the Alliance had refused me nine more times throughout the week and I had lost all hope on that front.

As a final resort Garrus had suggested for me to work on a trader ship. It was a volus vessel, so I wouldn't be welcome, but I wouldn't get killed either. And this, I felt, was the best option to go by.

'I want to fly.' I said to Garrus seriously.

'Ah... Look, even if they have accepted you as one of the crew, eventually they'll have to strip down to a skeleton crew for more profit. You won't be among that crew.'

'I'll find another ship. All I need is a reference, a background of experience with ships and any alien vessel will take me on.'

I'd made this point before and it hadn't convinced him yet.

'Alright.' he sighed. 'I can't stop you. And I'm running out of food, so you'd better hurry up. The ship's leaving today at noon.'

Noon was actually dawn here for some reason that no one could satisfactory explain to me. Also, midnight was midday, which basically cast around the time of day in different directions for no apparent reason.

And so we started to make our way towards the taxi stands. They were flying to and fro, in no apparent patterns. But then we reach the calling platform.

Seven taxis swooped down around us. They obeyed the traffic laws perfectly and I wasn't suspicious at first, just surprised at our luck to get such a wide choice of transport. Garrus had reacted the second the first taxi had landed though.

He'd thrown me behind a bearing pole that supported the roof of the market district of the Wards. I wasn't sure which part of the Wards though, it all looked the same to me.

He himself had taken cover behind the next taxi to land, throwing in a grenade into the midst. The men who came out were all soldiers and all of them looked very grim.

None of them had noticed the grenade. The second that the final taxi had opened it's doors the grenade went of, blinding everyone, me included since I was thick enough to look at it.

I heard punches being handed out to people, a gunshot, shouting and angry voices. When I had regained my vision I saw three turians, Garrus among them, tying up a dozen human soldiers, all of whom were giving me nasty looks.

I felt a sharp pain in my knee and looked down to see my jeans covered in blood. What had happened? I touched it and screamed in pain as I located the bullet wound. Looking about I saw a dozen bullet holes in the ground next to me. I'd escaped death by three inches. Interesting. I quickly applied a dose of medi-gel and the hole was covered with skin-look-a-like material that would feed nutrition until the hole was healed or it was out of nutrition.

It took me a moment to realize that I should have removed the bullet first and another moment to realize how lucky I was that it had gone straight through. The leg hurt but the painkillers and the synthetic skin did a good job. Flesh wounds were a concern of the past. Unless you died.

'Min, are you alright?' asked Garrus, bending down to check my leg.

'Yeah, I'm fine. What's going on? What happened?'

One of the turians, also C-Sec stepped forward.

'Garrus, these are Alliance military. What do we do?'

Garrus seemed startled by the news.

'Alliance? What the hell?' he stormed over to the group of humans and started asking them questions.

The only reply the men gave was that he had no right to arrest them.

'I do. Fire upon civilians is punishable no matter what organization you belong to, save for Spectres. This is either an act of war or a crime, but either way I'm bringing you in.'

The turians around Garrus nodded in approval as he put forward that logic and I saw that he had a few admirers.

The humans cursed worse than ever but it made no difference. Within minutes C-Sec shuttles had come to pick them up.

'Look, I have to go. I've got two hours left until the ship leaves.' I said quietly to Garrus.

'Yeah, I'll have one of the officers give you a ride.' he nodded.

I looked at him, sad to leave. Throughout the week we had gotten to know each other pretty well. He liked the same kind of music I did, though he thought that some of the human music songs were too whiny. He had taught me an awesome karate-like move, a strike to the diaphragm and an upwards thrust to the throat in one fluid motion. The only counter was to either accept a punch or move a far distance away. The risk was to get in the enemies strike combination.

I had been amazed at his martial skills. There was no way that I could ever learn to move as fast as he did.

I hugged him briefly.

'Thanks for everything.' I said.

He looked unsure of how to reply.

'Yeah, I... Yes, no problem. After we interrogate these guys we'll tell you who was after you.'

'Wait, you can't seriously let her go.' said another turian. 'She's a witness.'

'So are we. She's going. This place isn't safe for her.'

'The boss will fire you!' said the turian in amazement.

'I gave him human soldiers. Ammunition against the Alliance. He'll promote me.'

The other turians looked so impressed by his daring that I had a hard time not to laugh.

'Take her to the dock. It's dock...' he checked his omni tool, '"A" nineteen. It's a volus trading vessel.'

One of the officers nodded and led me towards a shuttled. Just before I entered I received a message for my omni tool. It was Garrus's e-mail address along with the words: Keep in touch.

The speed of everything, the fast paced departure and the attack left me speechless as the shuttle flew on towards the dock.

'So... impressive work on Akuze.' said the officer conversationally. 'I'm sorry for your loss.'

'So am I.' I said quietly. It only now dawned on me that I was not only leaving the Citadel but also the dependency on others behind me.

'If the Alliance knew what was good for them, they'd hire you. I've seen your marks in engineering and you're like a quarian.'

He sounded like an enthusiastic fan.

'What's your name?' I asked.

'Wans. Demorian Wans.' he said cheerfully. 'And I know your name, of course. The C-Sec has been buzzing with it in my department. Ah, here we are.' he finished sadly as we arrived at the dock. 'Have a pleasant journey!'

The volus are very short, rather plump-looking creatures. Because of the chemicals in the atmosphere on their original planet, they can't breathe oxygen like we can and so always wear enviro-suits with masks that obscure their faces. I stepped forward to the volus who looked more like a robot than the rest. This was the captain.

'Ah, the human. Just in time.' he took a very deep breath. 'We are almost done-' another deep breath, '-with loading the cargo.'

'Shall I get straight to the engines?' I asked.

'Yes. I have an asari aboard as well, so you won't be the only non-volus.' he said between deep breaths. 'She's at the engine deck as well, I think. The only place that you'll have some place to sleep, but better than nothing.'

I nodded, eager now. I longed to rough the space in a small trading vessel. It seemed like such an adventure.

The ship was a pyramid-shaped half-oval square, odd but aerodynamic, with only one window at the cockpit.

'You are familiar with Astra Lux engines?' asked the captain, seeing me eye the ship.

'Standard engines designed with a medium mass effect core that can travel the same length as a turian war ship Agarda. No standardized shield, have to be modified by hand. Easily upgradable and in a luxury economical income class, am I right?'

The volus nodded, impressed.

I entered the ship, which smelled a lot like a Mako, only clearer, colder somehow. It refreshed me.

The crew was close to a skeleton crew already, but all of them knew what they were doing. I followed the signs to the engine deck and put my bag down near an improvised bed. I hadn't noticed the asari sleeping in it as I sat down.

Asari are blue human-like people, I wasn't really sure whether they were all actually female or if it was just a myth originating from the fact that no one has ever seen a male asari.

'Ah!' I said in surprised and leapt up from the bed.

'What? Oh, again? What?' asked the confused asari.

'No, no, sorry I didn't notice you were there. You were under the blankets and... all.' I tried to explain.

She looked at me and blinked, shaking the sleep out of her eyes.

'Oh. You must be our new engineer.' she said, smiling sheepishly and getting up.

'Yeah. I'm Min.' I offered her my hand, which she shook.

'I am Liara. I, myself, have no purpose on this ship. I am merely buying passage to Regdov, an obscure planet in the Terminus Systems.' she said, explaining things before anything could be misunderstood.

'Terminus? Isn't that mostly pirate and rogue nations which roam the space?'

'Not quite, but it is the one I mean, yes.'

I nodded, impressed. This asari must be a powerful biotic if she is heading out there alone. I saw a heavy handgun hidden under her pillow.

'I'm looking forward to travelling with you.'

'So do I.' she replied, sitting back down on the bed.

'Ah, how long is to wherever you are going?' I asked, looking about the engine deck.

'Regdov is a week's travel from here, but we will be stopping at ports as well, to trade and find out the value of things. These volus are serious about making money.'

A week in such a small room would definitely put my adventure desires down. But I didn't mind for the moment.

'So what's on Regdov?' asked as I began to make friends with the engine. It was full of the worst kind of crap. I shook my head. This ship had been sorely neglected.

'I have heard of ruins there and suspect that they might be prothean.'

'So you're an archeologist?' the stupid engine wouldn't go above half the power unless I cleaned it out. How could one mess up a mass effect core so badly? I set a standard routine for rerouting which made a tiny difference to the mess, but the engine was too neglected for me to fix in one hour's time.

'Yes. I am an expert in protheans, though my studies haven't been given the attention I would wish they did.' replied the asari.

I looked around at her, frowning.

'You're an expert on protheans?'

'Yes.'

'But they died out... a long time ago.' I didn't know the specifics. 'And they left nothing behind. Or very little.'

'Indeed. And that is what I am trying to understand.'

'Yeah, but I mean; if they barely left anything behind, how can you be an expert?'

She smiled at my criticism, clearly having heard this before.

'I doubt that there is anyone alive today who knows about them as much as I do. I have spent forty five years researching them with unsurpassed dedication. If anyone else knows more than I do then I would love to meet them and share the knowledge.'

I nodded.

'So what do you thi-... Wait.' I looked around again. 'Forty five? You don't look a day older than twenty.'

I had imagined ancient asari with white hair and a cane. Though they didn't have hair. And their natural biotics supplemented canes.

'Ah, and so I would be if I had been human. But asari live long lives and being only a century old, I am barely more than a child amongst my people.'

'Wow.' I said, blinking in amazement. 'I was just confused... no grey hair.'

She laughed.

'Ah, that is why humans always mistake me for twenty. I should have known.' and she laughed again.

It really wasn't that funny.

The engine began to complain as the pilot started it up. The captain came down to see us.

'So here's the deal. All you have to do is to keep it running. If it breaks down, fix it. But I won't pay for spare parts for it, so just patch it up the best you can.' he said between deep breaths through his mask.

'No problem.' I said. 'Just let me clean this out and it'll be as good as new.'

'No, I don't have the money for spare parts-...'

I held up my hand, scanning the core with my omni tool. It was in bad shape and parts would do, but some precision patching was just as effective, if not more so.

'There's no need for spare parts.' I said, waving him away. 'Now let me do what I do best.'

'Engines?' he asked, enthusiastic at my responses.

'No. Pressing buttons.' I replied, not looking at him.

I began with removing the core burns on the exterior of the core itself. Not cleaning them was just plain unprofessional.

'Who was the previous engineer?' I asked, annoyed. 'Because he sucked.'

'My brother.' answered the volus, not sure how to take that.

'Oh.' I searched for words but couldn't find any. 'Well he sucked.' I finished bluntly.

The volus shook his head and left.

'You were too hard on the captain.' whispered Liara.

'How so?'

'His brother died on the trip to the Citadel. He suffocated in his suit.'

And now I felt bad. The guilt was really, really heavy on me as I continued working.

'So this is why they aren't too fond of humans.' I said, sounding conversational.

'You couldn't have known.' comforted the asari.

'I could have been tactful.'

'You are not the kind of person who's tactful.' she said, musingly.

'Are you a human expert as well?'

She didn't reply. It took me four hours just to fix the exterior of the core, patching together all the burnt power circuits and rerouting the original ones back to where they were supposed to be.

Liara was watching me interestedly.

'I haven't seen Phor work as much on this engine as you have done.' she commented. 'Maybe you were right. He might have been a poor choice for an engineer.'

'I can do a lot more for the core, but not right now. Any more tweaking at the moment will have it imploding.' I said, pretending to walk away towards the bed very carefully.

'Oh! But you shouldn't have-...'

'I'm joking. I'm just sick of numbers.' I said, sitting down beside her.

'_We are within relay range. Heading to Horse head nebula in three, two, one..._'

I felt the ship being dragged along a kind of powerful elastic rubber that shot us away into the space.

As they didn't report the drift I checked it on my omni tool. We drifted over three million light seconds. I shook my head. This ship could do with a better pilot as well.

'What is it?' frowned Liara.

'See these numbers? That's the normal drift for a ship after a relay jump. Here's ours.'

She blinked.

'That's... poor. Even for a ship this old. You might have put in too much power for them to manage it.'

I hadn't thought of that. I decided to go and speak with the pilot.

'What is it, Earth-clan?' asked the volus, looking frantically at his instruments as I entered the cockpit.

'I just cleaned some of the crap away from the engine, so you'll have more power than usual to compensate for.' I said, gesturing vaguely towards the engine deck.

He looked at me, or I thought he did, it was hard to tell with the suits, and then nodded.

'I'll make sure to adjust the power feed.' he nodded.

After having spent five hours on this ship, I decided to finally take a tour around it. There wasn't much to see. There were four decks all in all. The crew deck, the destination deck, the engine deck and the cargo deck.

The showers were made for volus, so I wouldn't be able to use them. Well I could, but my skin would melt off my skeleton and I would die a painful death. Something a few of the volus seemed to look forward to. Mercifully enough they had normal toilets.

None of them approached me in the mess as I took my portion of the food. The volus ate a kind of paste with something green and something that looked like a very hard bun. I knew it was hard because they had to break it open with their knives.

I'd been given pasta with gravy and fruit juice. Not bad, considering the state of the rest of this ship.

'I chose to travel with this ship because of the food.' said Liara as she sat down beside me. 'They are not friendly or even polite, but it has been months since my last good meal.'

I shook my head in amazement.

'Being an archeologist doesn't pay off?'

'Not as much as I had hoped, no. Most of what I find is later salvaged and monopolized by private companies. I have no say in the matter.' she sounded bitter. 'But I do gain a lot of valuable knowledge that they miss out on. I am in the process of writing a book on the protheans that I expect will raise my funds. For now, I am forced to travel like this.'

'I'm sorry about that.' I looked around to make sure that no one heard. 'They don't even have real showers!'

She laughed.

'That is a standing issue for wherever I go. Though in most places the excavation team provides showers, lodging and food.'

'Wait. Excavation team? How exactly do you, um, archeologize?'

'Whenever ruins or technology from the protheans is uncovered the people finding it usually send out a message on one extranet site or another. Sometimes they send messages directly to me, like now, and I will proceed with the excavations, aided by their machinery. But this time it doesn't sound like a ruin or a building. It was a very obscure piece of rumour that I found buried in planetary data that was gathered by probes. The exact location hadn't been pinpointed and so there had been no way to confirm, short of scouring the planet by foot.'

'Then how will you find it?'

'I have a program that picks up on anything prothean. It had taken me more than a hundred excavations to finish the program but I am confident that it will do it's job.'

I nodded. This made perfect sense.

'So is prothean tech and artifacts valuable or are they just really old?'

She pondered the question for a moment. It seemed to have more than just one answer.

'If I dig up a burial site, then it will be valuable to me for I learn of rites and customs of the protheans, thus helping the rest of the galaxy to understand them but ultimately, it won't be worth any money. But if I dig up a prothean databank or tech cache then it could sell for a rather high amount, but I would never sell such a thing. Not that I come across anything like that often.'

I nodded again. I could see her problem. She was interested in the knowledge with no care for monetary gain beyond the necessities. This was a hard line to walk and I felt very impressed by her perseverance.

'But why don't people just keep the ruins, artifacts or things like that for themselves?' I asked. 'Why do they ask for archeologists?'

'Most do keep them. And often these relics are worth little. Most of what I visit is exactly the same as that which I have visited a hundred times before. And many will never know a treasure even if they find it. And then there are some who simply clear away the rubble.' she looked angry at that. 'Because they don't realize the potential value the ruins might hold. But there are some who are willing to have experts have a look at it. After all, they do not pay us so they have nothing to lose and might gain a trinket if they do call us.'

What she was describing sounded very exciting and interesting. I almost wished that I could come with her. Of course, I couldn't. Not while the people responsible for my mother's death were at large. I felt an uneasy feeling creep up on me as I realized that I hadn't started looking. I had enough money to make my way back to Akuze. But I couldn't survive Akuze again if there were any more bugs left. A thought struck me. Well, it didn't strike me, more like slapped me and told me to get a grip. I considered it in silence for a while, eventually deciding to hold it off until I was sure that I should.

'And why did you take a post on a volus vessel?' she asked me, seemingly to break the silence.

'A few reasons. Mainly because they are headed my way. Port Maverick, from there I can hire a ship to Akuze. Also, because this trip pays me seven hundred credits. More than any other one-way thing. I think that these guys are afraid of an engine dying on them.'

Which was very likely considering the state of the core.

'Akuze...' she mused. 'I've heard of it lately, I think.'

'You have?' I'd hoped that she was far enough away from reality to know about it.

'Yes. I'm not sure where though. Do you have family on Akuze?'

'Not anymore.'

'Ah...' she looked down, red-faced, as far as asari went. 'Forgive me for mentioning it then.'

I tried to read my facial expression, but couldn't due to the annoyance of letting this slip.

The ship went out of FTL two hours later, a pleasantly short trip due to my constant tweaking of the engine.

'You know what you're doing, Earth-clan, I'll give you that.' said the captain, visiting the engine deck to check up on us. 'Two more stops miss T'Soni and I expect payment. No more stalling or I'll have you work in the mess for the next month.'

She nodded calmly as if it was no problem but as the volus turned his back on us I saw panic in her body language.

My mother had a way of recognizing when you did something wrong. And she would have a very good way of getting it out of you. She would put pressure on you, simply by waiting and watching while you waited for the judgement to be made. Until you were in panic about how bad it could be. Then she would sit down next to you and hug you, saying that it's not really that important. At this point one usually spilled the beans and spent the next two months washing dishes.

I looked at the asari levelly, watching how she felt more and more uncomfortable. Then I realized that she had already panicked and sat down beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

'You have a good cause for which to hitchhike for free.' I said simply.

'I don't know.' she sighed covering her face with her hands. 'This isn't the first time I travel with his ship and crew. And this isn't the first time I'm late in payment.'

Why had I wanted to hear this exactly? I couldn't remember. I had no idea how to deal with crying aliens.

'I owe more money than I can pay back within the coming year. Thirty two thousand credits. I don't know how to make that much money in three weeks. I don't think that I have more than that until the people in question come collecting.'

'Can't you ask you parents for money... or something?' I asked, remembering the question I had about asari males.

She laughed bitterly.

'My mother is a powerful matriarch. As far as she is concerned I'm wasting my time with these digs and excursions. She would happily lend me a million credits if I were to spend them on something she approves of.'

'Say that you want to buy a pony.' I suggested.

'Did you fail to hear the word "powerful"?' she asked, looking up. 'And what is a pony?'

'It's a thing... like a tiny horse. Girls like them because... they are fun to look at. And you can ride them.' I tried to explain.

'I hope that that's not a euphemism.'

I shook my head, trying to figure out what that could be a euphemism for.

'Good. Because everyone keep telling me that I'm lousy at recognizing them.' she said bracingly. She looked a lot calmer now. I decided to ask her.

'Look. Do you know what happened on Akuze recently?'

She shook her head, puzzled at this change of topic.

'Well, it got destroyed by huge creatures.'

Her eyes widened as she remembered something.

'Are you that girl? The one who survived amongst, what was it, two hundred colonists?'

'Yes.' I said, exasperated. I didn't like people bringing it up. 'And I need someone to come along with me to Akuze. I also have more than thirty two thousand credits.'

She made the connection instantly.

'I'm sorry, but I can't be derailed. Not even for so much money, which I think that you should not waste, by the way.'

'I wasn't finished.' I'd expected as much. Ruins were important while they were still fresh. Figuratively. 'There is something in particular that I'm looking for and that I don't expect to find on Akuze. Something that I'll need help with.' I touched the gun under her pillow very pointedly. 'And I'm willing to go and help you with the ruins first.'

She frowned and tried to figure this out in her head. There would apparently be gun fire involved. But she would be free of debt. Yet she had no idea who I was. But she would be accompanied to the ruins. What if this was a set-up? They wouldn't have sent an Alliance symbol for a set-up.

'What is it that you are looking for?' she asked, having made up her mind.

Regdov was a very rocky and green world. There was life on it. Birds that jumped twenty feet in the air with their powerful legs before taking off. We'd rented the shuttle that took us here for one month, that's when the volus vessel would be returning to pick it up from Port Coulai, the closest asari colony from here.

I sniffed the air. It was very clear, as the air usually is in the mountains, but still tinged with thick sweetness.

'I can see why the protheans lived here.' I said, looking about the paradise. A frog-like thing with six legs jumped out of the water. It looked at me balefully, opened it's mouth to allow the two tongues to roll out and took a deep breath. It seemed to have frozen as still as a statue and remained that way for as long as I looked.

'Come. It will not move until we leave.' said Liara, leading me away. 'My scans tell me that there is a prothean object just north of where we are right now. On the opposite side of where the probe had been sent.' she frowned.

'How would it have detected anything if it wasn't even on the right spot?' I asked, not really caring about the answer.

'I don't know. Either this was a very extensive colony or several different ones. It is also possible that this world was fully settled fifty thousand years ago.'

'No way. There'd be a lot more stuff left.' I shook my head. I was certain of that.

'Every other world I have visited was exactly the same. An obscure structure that might have been part of something larger would stand with no signs of anything else around it. As if someone was picking up the crumbles and missed one. Or not noticed it.'

'You think that they covered up behind them as they died out?' I asked, frowning at this logic. Maybe they'd all found god and decided that there was no more point in living. Who knows, right?

'I think... I think that someone else must have done that.' she said seriously.

'What, pirates?'

'No, I mean back then. I don't think that protheans were the only civilization that was space-faring. Thought I am I certain that they were the most advanced ones at the time.'

I tried to figure out the implications in my head as we walked along a naturally-made path towards our goal.

'So what you are saying is that there was a civilization that, though inferior in numbers and technology, wiped out the protheans?'

She shook her head.

'I do not know. There are so many theories about the extinction of protheans, many of which seem plausible, that I don't know what to believe.'

I made a funny noise that was a snort, I think.

'You're the expert, it's your theories that should count, not some extranet forum... nerd opinion.'

'You are right. And as I said before, I am not certain what to believe.'

The omni tool started making frantic noises, encouraging us to stop at the top of a rather high hill or a very low mountain.

'This is it.' she said bracingly.

'You know, when we spoke about "excavations" and things,' I said, looking about this place in doubt. 'You made it sound as if we would have tools. And railings.'

'But this is not an excavation site. This is us; making a potentially monumental discovery.' she said, excited at the prospect.

I pressed a few buttons on my omni tool, calling the shuttle to our location. There was just enough ground for it to land without making the dig site inaccessible.

We took forward a number of laser cutters, some sort of hammers and pickaxes, a kind of metal totem-like thing that created strong shock-waves. Different recording devices, a shield that filtered the UV light from the sun and an instruction manual on how to use all of this. It took us four hours to set all of this up, during which we speculated wildly about what might have caused the prothean extinction, going as far as suggesting that they might still be alive somewhere on a hidden world. Or that they were all ghosts.

'Yeah, maybe they invented something that could turn them into dark energy. Immortality at it's best and all that.' I said, rolling my eyes. I knew that we were being ridiculous.

Finally, having calibrated the lasers to touch nothing but ground and work slowly so that nothing would be damaged by it, we could have a break.

'You do this on your own usually?' I asked, exhausted from all the physical work. The volus's ship engine seemed like a walk in the park right now. To be honest, my joy of all green was gone by now as this place was very hot, very green and I hadn't taken a shower in four days. Last time was at Port Ethi, a small turian colony that was particularly beautiful but very dangerous because of it's toxic rain.

'Yes.' she sighed as she sat down in the shuttle, it's door opened wide to give us a beautiful view of the landscape above and below. 'I must admit, help makes a huge difference. Especially from someone who is technically apt. I expected to be here for weeks, setting all this up, but we might be done by tomorrow.'

I looked at the pile of equipment left to set up before we could start digging. Metal covers to keep the rocks from falling on our head once we finally enter our tunnel, spikes to keep the hill, or mountain, from becoming structurally unstable by our digging. An electric field around the area, with low voltage, to keep wild animals away. I'd had some fun with setting that one up, vibrating through out the whole thing. I still trembled here and there.

'You are dedicated, I'll give you that.' I sighed.

She'd been setting up the power lines for the lasers and her electric shocks hadn't been nearly as fun. Eventually I had to do it for her because her clothes had started to smoke.

Only now, that we got a chance to think about other things aside from equipment manuals, did I realize what I was doing. And what I had been doing all day long. I was on some alien planet with weird frogs and spiralling birds, a a bird with only one wing that had good legs for climbing trees and then jumping form them. I was also searching for an obscure piece of prothean ruin, and I was doing so with the help, or as the help, of an asari prothean expert. I had to admit, none of this was a part of my plan. But I had time. For now, there was a more pressing matter to attend to.

'Liara?'

'Yes?'

'I have a question. About, ah, your people.'

She looked curiously at me.

'What do you want to know?'

'Is it true that there are only asari women? There aren't any men?'

She laughed at that question which made it sound very stupid.

'Male and female are terms that we didn't know of until interstellar travel was discovered. Asari are mono-gendered, the same way that indigenous life form of Thessia, our home planet, is. Of course, this leads to many rumours about, ah, promiscuity and other perverse rituals.'

I thought about this.

'So... how does it work?' I blushed. 'I don't mean to pry or anything, but normally there's a "man" involved when making babies.'

We both laughed at that, though I sounded a lot more hesitant than she did. Sex wasn't new to me, it was alien.

'We do not mate the same way that other species do. We do not always require bodily contact. It is a melding of our minds, leaving an imprint of our genetic code. It is a complete and ultimate union that displays trust in each other. Or so I like to think of it, though of course, there are always those who sell their services for money.'

I nodded.

'So, you "mate" through biotics?'

'Yes.'

I thought about this. How could evolution have happened in such an odd way on Thessia? Normally there's two of everything. A man and a woman. Left hand and right hand. Up and down. Sun and moon. Day and night. Left brain, right brain. Maybe Thessia defied the unwritten law of physics in more than one way? On the other hand, if they are all natural biotics, then maybe two doesn't have to mean different. It might be two of the same. Oh. It was, wasn't it? They needed to be two for mating. I was getting stupid.

'Now I have a question to ask in turn.' said Liara, and I was certain that I knew what was coming.

I hadn't told her why I needed her help or why I was paying so much for it though she had tried to trick it out of me on several occasions.

'Sure.' I said, bracing myself.

'What happened on the Citadel?'

I blinked.

'What?'

'What happened on the Citadel? As far as I can tell, eighteen is young, even by human standards. Normally you should still be in school, educating yourself. I did not ask for it didn't seem to concern me at the time, but you have started to shut yourself away day by day. It is harder to speak to you every time I wake up.'

I thought about this. Maybe that was it. Maybe I was just too wrapped up in myself to have time to talk to others. I'd been plotting ways of approaching my dilemma, avenging my mother, finding the people responsible. And I had forgotten that no one else was as preoccupied as I was.

'I'll give you the short version.' I offered. I'd edit it well. 'At first I arrived at the hospital with the soldier who survived as well. I spent there, what, a week? Then I was allowed to go home, only... home isn't home.' I couldn't talk about it. I couldn't phrase it right. I couldn't even phrase it wrong, the words were stuck in my throat.

Liara said nothing, just watched me intently.

'My father was on Eden Prime when the stuff on Akuze happened.' I began again. 'And he had met another woman. Well, your kind aren't women I suppose, but it doesn't really matter.' I wondered if I minded that Liara was an asari or whether Liara'd mind that my father had decided to cheat on my mother with an asari. I decided that it didn't matter. 'And when I realized what was going on...'

There was a long silence. I looked up to see whether Liara had understood.

'And you blame asari for seducing your father?' she assumed, with good reason.

'No.' I replied honestly. 'I blame my father. The asari hadn't been married and had a child. She hadn't forced herself on him. He had made the choice to be with her and he made the choice to have a child with her.' my voice was full of venom and hate at those words. 'You don't know someone. Not ever. Especially not when they are never there to be known.' I laughed bitterly. 'He hadn't seen me in real life since I was six. I'd spoken to him over the extranet now and again, but that's it. He was a complete stranger. Now he's a stranger that I have good reason to hate.'

Liara thought about this for a moment and, though she didn't show it, I could sense relief coming from her.

'I would have thought that you would blame our different way of life for your father's mistake, and not the other way around.'

I shook my head. She hadn't understood the key point.

'No, look. If you had cheated on your wife, or husband, would you then take the person you had cheated with to see your family? And bring her daughter at that?'

She blinked, confused.

'You are right. It makes no sense.'

Again, she had failed to see the obvious. Were everyone so thick or was I just too trusting? I didn't know.

'You're wrong. It makes perfect sense. It undoes everything. If he was brave enough to bring her, Melana or whatever her name was, then he, no, then both of them had a good explanation for what had happened. It had been unintentional, that can't be denied. If he'd meant to betray mother then he would never have shown his lover's face anywhere near me.'

Liara looked at me for a second in wonder.

'You are much like an asari matriarch.' she said eventually. 'You ignore the obvious and look straight to the truth of the matter.'

'What _is_ a matriarch? Are they some kind of oracles?' I asked, blushing with the praise.

'They are elder asari. The matriarch stage is the final stage in the life of an asari. The experience they gain on their way to becoming a matriarch makes them exceptionally valuable leaders. This is why our race excels at diplomacy, more than any other respect.'

'So you'll become a matriarch?'

'Yes, someday. But it will take centuries yet. We do not enter the matriarch stage until around six or seven hundred years of life.'

'Wait. Remember the day we met? In the mess? You said that your mother was a powerful, rich matriarch. How old is she?'

'She is roughly seven hundred years old. But she is cunning and very powerful in biotics, thus many other, elder, matriarch look to her for counsel.'

We were silent for a long while, watching the flickering sunset. The silence was broken by a message that had somehow reached me out here in the middle of nowhere.

It was from Garrus.

'Min, this is Garrus. I can't say much in case someone intercepts this transmission, but I must warn you, and this time you'd better take the hint.' he paused. 'Do not trust the Alliance. The soldiers, they were hired directly by someone in the Alliance. You are off the grid right now and wherever you are and whatever you are doing, keep doing it until we've managed to establish who's behind it all.' he looked down at a note. 'Also, your father tells me that he is really sorry and knows how you must feel. He wishes that you will be well. He's also forwarding money to a secure account.'

The message ended with an account number and an access code. I tried to check how much money I now had, but there was no connection to the extranet out here. I guessed that Citadel must have some kind of amplifiers of signals.

'What was that about?' asked Liara. As the message had been played up into my earpiece, she hadn't heard a thing.

'A friend with a message from father and some more money.' I shrugged.

'He must be really worried about you.'

I shook my head.

'Actually, as best I can tell, he'd like me to stay where I am, wherever that may be.'

Liara looked shocked.

'And I thought that my mother was distant.'

I sighed. She clearly wanted to talk about her issues as well.

'What's wrong between you and your mother?' I asked, returning her curtsey.

'I can tell that you don't want to know.' she smiled.

I harrumphed.

'Well I didn't, but now that you say it like that I do. Go on, what's your story?'

'She is a very powerful person. Always associating with diplomats, aristocrats and leaders of people and worlds. Many of her friends and followers assumed that I would follow in her footsteps, become a great and wise matriarch.' she shook her head sadly. 'That is one of the reasons for my interest in protheans. They are enigmatic and obscure. Only a very few are actually researching them and here I don't have to keep my head down, for no one will care either way.'

'So... you research the proteans to spite your mother? That doesn't sound very matriarchal.'

'No. I have always been interested in them, but I never considered pursuing my interests until the matters with mother elevated. More and more people began insisting that I would follow in her footsteps, so I left. Much like you did. And began studying protheans. It is only in recent five or six years that money have been scant. I'd managed to take a good amount of credits before I left.'

'Your mother must have been thrilled.' I whistled.

'She wasn't particularly enthusiastic, no, but she never told me to return nor to abandon my research. She simply never showed much enthusiasm for it.'

'Do you speak with her still?'

'Yes. From time to time. But I don't want her to know how much trouble I am in. That would force her hand and send for people to bring me back to Thessia, or Citadel. Wherever she lives at the moment.'

I took a deep breath. This had been a very deep conversation. I wasn't sure if I liked Liara or not, but if we were comfortable with talking about these things, then I guess I had made a friend, at least.

As I was taking that breath, my mouth opened and I yawned widely.

'It is getting late.' smiled Liara. 'We should eat and then rest.'

'Oh no!' I complained. 'It's them! The fogria! Jean didn't like them and I'm afraid of why she didn't like them!'

Liara stared at me uncomprehending.

'You don't like them?'

'I don't mind them. But, that soldier form Akuze, Jean, she didn't seem to like them. And she seemed to know something about them. And I don't know what. And I'm not sure I can eat them on that basis.'

I know that I sounded stupid but that was the best way I could describe my mixed feelings about this plant. 'It tastes fairly... alright.' I offered as I saw Liara's amused smile.

'It is said that they taste differently for everyone.' she said, taking a bite out of one.

'Oh yeah, I'd heard that. But it's really just different for every species.' I nodded knowledgeably.

'That's the red fogria. This is the green one. It tastes differently depending on the hormone levels in your body. So it may even taste differently for the same person, if he or she has mood swings.'

'How does hormones affect taste?'

'Taste is just a perception to tell us how our body would like something. Though with all the chemical additions, that sense is merely procreational, during the more primal stages of evolution we have used it to great effect.'

'That doesn't answer my question.' I frowned. She was more talkative than usual.

'No. I don't know the answer. I haven't studied human biology and physiology much.'

Hoping for a change in taste, or hormone levels, I took one of the fogria. It taste much the same as it had before. I looked at Liara eating them and willed the damn things to taste better. The next one was perceptibly sweeter.

'Oh, cool. They are like, mind fruits.' I laughed.

'What?'

'Well, I'm not sure what I thought about...' I said, thinking about all the various thoughts in my head as I had bitten into the fogria. '... but it tastes slightly sweeter.'

I wanted to cry with frustration as Liara suddenly wore the exactly same expression as Jean had done when we had discussed the taste of fogria before. I should have looked up fogria on the extranet.

'What? What's the big secret?' I asked, annoyed.

'It's just unusual, that's all.' said Liara, smiling.

I worked hard but eventually saw the signs of lie in her body language. She'd done a good job of covering it up.

I threw my hands up and reached for the canned food instead.

'Don't tell me, I'll find out soon enough anyways.'

Morning brought sore muscles and parched throat along with it like an unwelcome guest bringing a drunk DJ and his girlfriend. I didn't want to dig anymore, it reminded me too much of home. Of Akuze. Of Darya, the colony.

Also, I smelled awful, so the first thing we did was to go down the hill, or mountain, and find a lake or stream or waterfall to get cleaned up. Asari didn't seem to smell bad as far as I could tell, but the dirt on our hands was still a matter that needed to be attended to. Also, she didn't need to wash her hair, as she didn't have any. I'd pointed that out to her on out way down.

'True, but my scalp needs hygienic care if I don't want it to start to flake at the ends. Also, sweat gathered at the back of my neck...' she gestured towards the muscles that seemed to be lined up on the outside on her neck. '... might cause infections or at least bad odour.'

Very luckily for us we found a river running just at the foot of the hill, or mountain. A river that zigzagged between the mountains and hills, coming from what seemed to be the tallest mountain. I guessed that there would be a lake if we followed it but Liara pointed out that there might be dangerous animals in the lake and so we made do with the river.

At least there were no dangerous land animals. I knew that with certainty because this vegetation hadn't gone beyond grass and small bushes, so there were no mammals on land yet.

I'd usually been shy about how I looked and never undressed in company if I could help it but at the moment, clean was the preferred state, and not clothed. But looking down at my body and seeing the burns from the radiation, the scars from the surgery and the bullet wound from the shot in my leg made me almost grotesque.

I couldn't help but sit down and bury my face in my hands. I'd done the same thing last time I showered. I tried not to tremble as hate for my appearance made me cry with frustration, but there's only so much self restraint one could manage. I tried not to touch any of the scars as I began washing myself and did my best to ignore Liara's gasp of horror as she looked around to face me.

'What has happened to you?' she asked, her voice full of worry.

'You don't get out of a place full of thresher maws and rachni without being marked.' I said in a tone that suggested I meant to say "shut up and look away".

She didn't notice my tone. Instead she came over to me and tried to hug me.

'I don't need pity, Liara. Leave me alone. Just-...' I was too upset to speak so instead I walked away from her, further down stream so that I'd be out of her sight.

The worst scar was the burn-like scar on my stomach that covered most of the left side of torso and my forearms that I'd kept hidden under my shirt. It was ugly. I felt like a vorcha. The surgical scars were thin and neat. If it hadn't been for the rest of the scars, I wouldn't have minded the surgical ones. I wasn't vain, not really, but this was too much, even for me. I touched the scar on my face as well, the tiny burn just at my hairline. It wasn't particularly noticeable as the surgeons had planted the hair back on, covering most of the scar.

Who'd want me? I was bad mating material. And I haven't even mated yet! This was so unfair that I felt more tears coming.

'Shit. I mean crap. Alright Min, take a deep breath. Wash. Go back.'

With this I looked forward, stubbornly not looking down, no matter what my hands felt, and washed away the dirt and sweat with the soap I'd brought. It smelled nice, the soap, and I was distracted, thinking of real showers and beds with width, like the one in Garrus's apartment. I missed Garrus and his cool and easy manner. I missed TV. And I wanted to find out what those fogria were about. And I wanted to know what was going on on the Citadel. Why should I be careful of the Alliance? The human version of the Council? They should be protecting me!

A theory formed in my mind but I dismissed it because I had no proof. I needed proof, or else I'd go berserk.

I found it hard to look at Liara when I had at last returned to our dig site. I wasn't sure what I had said or if I had offended her and she was silent, so I couldn't judge what she was upset about.

'I'm sorry if I offended you.' she said as I was closer to her and the shuttle where she had started to set up a mineral scanner. 'I didn't mean to... I had no idea.'

'No, no. That's fine, I just overreacted. I'm vain or something, I don't know. But it's dealt with. I think. So let's get back to work.' I tried to be and sound casual but, again, there are somethings in body language that can't be faked.

She nodded bracingly, ready to be productive and inspired all over again and I remembered that I _really_ didn't want to do any more of this stuff. But, alas, work never goes away on its own. If it did, meaning would cease and we would all die from boredom. You know, because boredom is much worse than starvation and war.

'I found something that might encourage us to work at a higher rate.' said Liara.

I had to look up and see this. Did she bring drugs? A robot? A salarian? She was pressing buttons on the omni tool. She'd brought music.

At first it didn't make sense to me and I thought that the singer was singing in asari. I'd told Liara that I couldn't speak that many languages. But then it dawned on me that the singers voice was simply that hard to follow. It was rather like a whisper, hypnotic and rough. Take that, the drums, the violin and various other instruments and music sounded very... work-like.

'I like it.' I nodded. 'Who are they?'

'Ah... I don't know. But I was adviced that a steampunk band, or was it sound? Anyway, I was adviced that steampunk would be a fitting genre for working with tools.'

It was. It felt a lot easier to start working again. Though my body still didn't fancy moving about much, I felt much lighter on my feet and bending was a good deal easier.

It took us seven hours, lunch included, to set up the rest of the tools and we started reading the instruction manuals, with no music to help us.

'I'd have thought that you knew how to use these by now.' I pointed out.

'These are a different make, and upgraded at that, from what I am used to. Usually I use human, turian or asari technology. They make more sense and are generally easy to control. But this... Well, we shall see.'

'Who made these?'

'A salarian colony makes them. Look, even the instruction manuals are in the colonial language.'

She pointed out a few markings that I'd taken to be decorative.

'Good thing they translated it.'

After a few more minutes it was clear that nothing more was to be gained for the manuals and we decided to have a go at drilling.

Everything was calibrated. Everything was powered and regulated. And I had my newly bought goggles on. I'd gotten them at Port Ethi.

'Alright, stand back and watch.' I said with a sense of occasion.

The thin laser started rotating and I could see the heat shifting the earth bit by bit at the same time as a hydrolic "cleaver" drill started it's careful way down the area of excavation.

After five minutes we had to stop and remove all the earth that the drill's two heads had moved up in order for the lasers to remain where they were and hit their targets. And we repeated the procedure. After every five minutes or so we stopped to shift the dug earth and to adjust the drills and lasers. Eventually the lasers gave a warning signal telling us that there was more than just earth bellow. It had taken hours, I didn't even like to think how many, but I knew that, even though we had started work with the sun only slightly past the centre of the sky, by now it was half way down, past the horizon.

'Do we go on now, or should we stop for the night?' I asked, hoping to end this quickly. I was tired as hell and I didn't want to wake up and do this again.

Liara looked at her watch. Then looked at the hole we had dug.

'There really isn't enough light.' she said eventually, as if conceding defeat. 'We should call it a day. Or night.'

I had to agree. I doubted that we could do much more without light.

'We did good.' I said encouragingly. 'Very good. Tomorrow we'll see what's hiding under the earth.'

I could see Liara squaring her shoulders, eager to find out exactly what's hiding under the earth. I wasn't too interested, but I wanted to know what it was that we had been working on for so long.

All this work with tools and dismantling things had actually brought one positive thing to us. We now had beds. Or one bed, but it was a really large one. Because we had to prepare the equipment inside the shuttle before mounting it, so that it wouldn't get sand into the mechanism, we had made a kind of work table. This work table took up the whole shuttle, but was very stable and, with the right pillows, very comfortable.

We didn't have the right pillows, but we had the next best thing. All our clothes in bundles.

'You're not going to tell me about the fogria, are you?' I asked, as we began eating a late dinner.

'I have. There is nothing more to it.' but she didn't meet my eyes.

'Fine, have it your way.' I said, biting into my canned, asari-planet beans. They were called Odni. The omni tools translation of that word was – A hidden stranger in a dark alley with three forks in his backside. Which wasn't a good translation. Liara had told me that they were the equivalent of human rice, and so I was satisfied with that.

The night was actually as warm as the day had been and so I took of my long sleeved shirt for something more comfortable. It was too dark, I thought, for my scars to be seen. And my earlier panic wasn't likely to return in my exhausted state at any rate.

I would have screamed had my mouth not been full of beans when something grabbed my left arm. It was only Liara, I knew that, but in the dark everything seemed a lot more likely. Like a rachni with hands.

'This really bothers you.' she said, stroking my scarred skin.

'Yes. No touching.' I said, pulling my arm away. And trying not to spill my beans. Literally.

'I just want you to know that... even with the scars, you are still beautiful.'

I thought this through. It didn't sound like a lie, but who knows? It was, in an odd way, comforting. It occurred to me that, while most would have said that out of pity, Liara was probably saying this because of her mono-genderedness. Maybe I looked different to her than I would to a human. Meh, it was still a nice thing to say.

'You haven't seen nothing.' I muttered, trying not to sound too pleased with the compliment.

'I did.'

'Oh yeah. Look, I know that it's disgusting and all that, but you don't have to comfort me or anything. I'll bet that there's some kind of surgery that fixes this. It's only skin, anyways. I'm not going to mope about it.'

She thought for a while. I could tell that she was thinking because she didn't move.

'Maybe I said it the wrong way. I don't know how to, ah, woo someone.'

I put the beans down so that I wouldn't drop them accidentally. Woo? Like in couples? Really? Me? Interesting. I wondered how I would react if a woman ever wooed me. Then I realized that one had. Kind of.

'Oh.' I let out a long breath. 'Woo? As in..?'

'We have spent much time together. And I have come to trust you, Min. You are my friend. But I feel that we could be more than that. I...'

I frowned at the unfinished sentence. Then Liara quickly drew back.

'What?' I asked, alarmed.

'I shouldn't have mentioned it. Forgive me, it was nothing. I should have known that... humans are different. And see us in another light...'

Oh crap. I had offended an asari. And a friend. I hadn't thought of that. More than a friend? I hadn't thought of that either. This was unfair towards me on so many levels. She'd have to give me time, at least. Pushy, pushy, pushy.

'Look, Liara.' I said in a half business like and half "seductive" tone of voice. 'I... think that I feel the same way. But you have to give me time to figure it out. You dropped a big bomb there. So to speak. I've never... you know... "united".'

She moved into another sitting position and the atmosphere in the shuttle seemed to change. It seemed to become homey.

'Of course. I realize that it might not have been something you have considered before.' she said, relieved. 'But don't do anything that you don't want to do.'

I thought this through. I wanted to do it. Admittedly, I wanted to do it with a man, but asari seemed to be a lot like... men. Only looking female. And when it came down to it, they were both, really. Or rather, they were none. No. They were independent women. Much like men, only with a feline power in them. I thought about what attracted me. I really thought. Nothing came to mind. Did I skip puberty? No I hadn't, I could remember the awkward bits of it clearly. Did I skip romance? Well, I am only eighteen... I couldn't figure this out. Curse Liara for bringing this up. I was too tired to make a decision one way or another. And so I decided to go to sleep.

The bed didn't seem nearly as big now as it would have without this new piece of information.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: What a really bad day

We were both very polite to each other as we woke up. Neither mentioned our discussion last night and I felt that it was probably best this way, though a small voice in the back of my mind was eager to see what would happen, urging me to take the step. I ignored it, no need to make things more complicated than they were.

And I actually looked forward to the coming unveiling of the prothean artifact. It took us five minutes to set up a line and a crane with which we could lower ourselves down.

'Wait, this is stupid.' I said, holding up a hand.

'What is?'

'We don't know if we can stand on it or not.'

'It was buried under thirty meters of earth. It will hold us and much, much more.' insisted Liara. 'Also, I have run a scan on the minerals of what we encountered. It's metal. And it's definitely endurable.'

'Do you know what it is?'

'It seems to be a rooftop. But I can't gather any more data on it than that.' she shrugged apologetically. 'We will have to clear away some earth and set up the "breaker" drill, to make a tunnel.'

Unlike the "cleaver" drill which circled it's two heads and came together to separate the ground with as little collateral damage as possible, the "breaker" was a five-headed drill that would go straight forward. It was simple to set up and took us only two trips up and down. We had to leave the hole while the initial drilling went on but very soon there was a fifty foot cavern dug horizontally to the east.

A few scans later we discovered that we were, in fact, drilling in the right direction. Only now it would get harder as it took more and more time to transport all the earth out of the tunnel. And we were running out of support rods that kept the tunnel from collapsing on us in case the ground shifted for some reason.

'I think.' said Liara, wiping sweat of her forehead, leaving a trace of mud on it. 'I think that we should start trying to find a way into the structure. All the scans indicate that it is a building. And all of them tell us that it is structurally stable. Either the pressure of the earth or the durability of the architecture has kept this place intact.'

'Agreed. Also, I don't like this cramped tunnel much.' I nodded.

Here came the tricky bit. We would have to make a hole in the roof with one of the lasers while keeping it magnetically attached to something in order for it not to fall and break something down bellow. This hole could not be too big, or the surrounding roof would collapse, but we would both have to fit through. We agreed not to take any equipment beyond torches down there because it would be too bulky as it is.

And so, two hours later, the laser was set up and the hole was made. I'd used the metal from the unused support rods to make an edge on the hole so that it wouldn't give way to any collapsing.

'Alright. Lunch?' I asked, grinning as Liara peered down into the hole, her face interested and enthusiastic.

'Oh?' she looked up, disappointment written all over her face. 'Now? Maybe we could-...'

'Go down and have a look. Ladies first.'

I offered her the cable we'd set up along with the laser. I steered her gently down to the ground, checking the length every few seconds.

'I've reached the ground!' she called.

I tugged at the cable. It was thin. It was light. Would it seriously hold me? It held Liara and she was bigger than me. I sighed. Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to do this. I should have offered her more money. Should have, could have, would have.

'I'm coming.' I said, lowering myself down.

I arrived in pitch blackness. The only light was from up ahead, and it seemed like nothing more than a spark. This was a tall building. We lit the torches.

'By the goddess.' whispered Liara in awe and fascination. 'I have never... This is amazing.'

It was some kind of palace-like room with several tall and pointy thingies, almost like broadcasting antennas. There was a balcony, which suggested that this place wasn't supposed to be buried, but just happened to be. There were tapestries and papers. Here was a prothean relic of a value that was undeniable and invaluable in historical terms.

'Wow.' I said with my usual infliction whenever something important was happening. 'This looks... dusty.'

'This is a house! This is an actual, prothean residence! Perfectly preserved! With, look, this is a book! Look, Min! And I this must be a communication device. A journal!' I looked about in amusement as she made a squeak. 'This is a prothean burial chamber.'

'In a house?' I frowned.

'Look.' she pointed towards another room, just across from where we were standing.

There were, what looked clearly like, graves.

'No way. They may have used similar tech, but those aren't graves.' I shook my head. That would be too unlikely.

I strode forward and opened one.

'Are you awake?'

I shook my head. It seemed wrong. I did it again just to figure out why it was wrong. I was on the ground and the motion was restricted by the floor.

'What happened?' I asked, completely nonplussed. I wasn't hurting, I wasn't dizzy or cold or anything. Nothing had changed aside from the fact that I was now on the floor.

'Min? Get up, it's time for school.'

Ah. That's the catch. Damn. I'd hoped to get off easy.

'No way. School's gone.' I muttered, getting up anyways.

I'd forgotten how soft my bed had been on Akuze. And how much I missed it all. I took a deep breath and the memory of the smell hurt me like a stake to the heart.

'Get up now, there's not much time.' said the same woman's voice. I frowned. It wasn't mother's voice.

Into the room came Meinela. 'You have overslept again.' she shook her head in mock sadness.

'What are you-... Where's mother?'

'She's at work. A Mako had broken down due to water damage, so...' Meinela shrugged.

'Hang on. You _and_ mother live here?' I tried to understand what was going on.

'Don't be stupid.' she laughed. 'Whom else do you want?'

'With father?'

'With... Oh. We have spoken of it already. And we will tell him when we next see him. But now is the time for you to go to school.'

Something was very, very wrong here.

'Tell him what? Whom?' I'd lost track of what I was saying, too focused on her explanation.

'Stop this. I don't enjoy being a rift, Min. I wish that I wasn't. But I love your mother, can you understand that?' she sat down next to me and put her arm around me. 'And she loves your father no less than she did before. I can tell.' she touched her head lightly with her fingers.

'You. And mother.' I spelled this interesting idea out to myself. 'But not father. And what about me?'

She sighed in a way that I learned to recognize by the thousands of sighs I'd heard from mother. She was hurt. Damn it.

'I thought that we'd been getting along well.' she said quietly. 'But I will try harder, I will Min. I don't want to lose you either.'

I just shook my head, trying to understand what was going on. And where was Liara, by the way? And wasn't I supposed to be in a prothean ruin, by the way? I snorted. Right, a prothean ruin. What could I have been thinking of?

'No, I didn't mean that.' I tried to explain to Meinela. 'I think that we get along very well. And I like your poetry.' I offered to be more complimentary. 'And I understand... Is that the time? Oh, I have to run! See you, Mini.'

I started towards school. That dream had been so disturbing. So real. But it was stupid. Thresher maws and rachni attacking my colony? I, the only colonist alive? Pfft. I really needed to focus on school. It was important. Nothing bad had happened and nothing would. Akuze was a boring place.

I took me about five more minutes to spot the next oddity. No one was outside. All the buildings were in ruins. Now I was really scared. What was going on?

A shadow seemed to be following me, lurking somewhere, out of sight. I looked towards Meinela and she was waving farewell to me, standing in the doorway. Only, there was nothing around that doorway. No walls. No windows. No house. I started back towards her. I needed to know what was going on.

'Meinela. Something is wrong. I... I'm really scared.' I said hysterically, looking about the ruined colony.

'Of course.' she said in the same voice she had used before. But it was colder now. Less like hers and more like... Dead.

I knew that if I looked up at her I would regret it. This is why cats keep dying from curiosity, you know that, right? Stupid me. I looked up at her.

Though she was waving and smiling, her eyes weren't looking at me but at a spot just to the left of me. It looked as if she had seen something horrifying and frozen in a smile. I spun about but there was nothing. Just rubble. I looked back at her and started backing away. That dead look on her face and the compulsion to smile made me want to throw up.

I turned about to run, to get away, but I ran into something almost instantly and it knocked me down to the ground.

'Min!' it was my father. 'You ran away! I cannot believe...' he seemed to gather himself. 'I understand how you feel but that was rash! Outrageous, in fact! Do you have any idea how much you hurt us? Do you? Well now I will hurt you!'

He took off his belt and towered over me...

'Min, wake up!'

I screamed at the top of my lungs as long and loud as I could to relieve myself of the panic I felt and the pain from the beating.

I couldn't sustain the cry for long because I had to throw up.

'Min. Oh goddess, Min.' whispered Liara, patting me on the back.

I couldn't speak. I was completely silent but for the sobs.

'We shouldn't have rushed in like that, Min. I am so terribly sorry. I truly am.'

I put my hand to her mouth, almost mechanically. I couldn't bear listening. It didn't matter what I heard, I just wanted silence.

'I thought that I was back.' I said numbly. 'But it was all wrong.'

The back of my mind was buzzing. Stronger by the second. It was pushing me out into emptiness. Scared, I forced it back to where it had been. I didn't want to sleep. I couldn't survive another dream like that.

'I don't think... '

And embarrassingly enough I started to cry.

'I was back on Akuze.' I said between sobs. 'And the asari, the one I told you about, she was there. But she was with mother now. And then everything became ruins and she was a doll, or toy. I don't know. And then... ' I wondered how to explain. The last part was... 'I woke up.' I edited.

'We should get you out of here.' whispered Liara, and I felt her carry, or levitate, me towards the cables. I was falling in and out of consciousness, fighting to stay awake but constantly being sent back with flashes of memory or insight. Phantom pain spread across me like fire and then was drowned by the despair of all I had seen.

But an idea had started to form in my mind. Or rather, an insight. This was all probably from Akuze and the stress. So all I had to do was get a grip. All I had to do was to stand up and dance or something, and mean it. All I had to avoid was to let this memory take control over me and my actions.

I wouldn't lock it away. I would ignore it. It would embrace it and devour it. New strength formed in my blood, heart and mind. But I was still so tired. So weary. My bones were so heavy. But that is what I had to fight.

I opened my eyes and realized that we were already at the top, out of the tunnel and the hole.

'We're almost there.' Liara was whispering, seemingly to herself. She was now dragging me, no more strength for carrying, along the ground.

'Wait.' I said, hoarse from screaming.

She paused and looked at me, worried. I took a deep breath and stood up. After all, I was physically fine. It was all psychological. I had to overcome my own weakness by being stronger than it. It was like fighting fire with fire. Like trying to empty a lake by pouring water into it.

'I'm fine.' I said, trying out a smile. She didn't buy it. I tried another one and realized that it was just a kind of grimace. 'I'll live.' I corrected.

She led me down to the river to wash myself off. I'd gotten vomit on my clothes. But I wasn't really in a place where I cared about anything much. I was just trying not to collapse back into myself.

Finally, at last, we lay down on the make-shift bed.

'Are you... hungry?' she asked, still worried.

'No.' I shook my head, again trying to smile.

'Don't do that. You scare me.' she whispered back. 'What happened back there?'

'It was... It was a vivid dream.' I summarized. 'And not a very good one.'

'Your brain activity was off the charts. As far as my omni tool can say, you died at least five times. Your heart and brain shutting down and restarting in bursts.'

'That couldn't have been good.' I whispered.

My head felt cold from the water. My arms were trembling. The blanket wasn't doing much for warmth.

'You know what you said last night?' I asked.

'Yes?'

I decided that speaking didn't matter. This was mutual after all. I kissed her. The warmth of her lips heated mine. Her hands were warm, gently exploring my body. I felt her shiver under my cold touch. Compared to me, she felt as if she was feverish. She whispered something into my ear but I was too busy no hear. And then... this was the union. We were one in her, or maybe my, mind. Every sense heightened, every touch warmer than the previous one. In this one instant we belonged together like nothing else does. I thought that one of us might have bitten, gently, the other in the ear but I couldn't make out which one of us.

And in spite of this sense of one, I was still aware of how odd this felt. She was soft and, well, blue and had curves. I had no idea why I was bothered by this. Maybe because she resembled myself too much. Physically, I mean. She wasn't a crybaby like me. I had expected it to feel like something was missing, but nothing was. Everything was there and everything was right as it was supposed to.

It was years, or maybe just seconds, later that we released each other. I wasn't cold anymore. Everything seemed to be in a gentle, soothing fire.

'That was... amazing.' said Liara, smiling dreamily.

'It was.' I agreed. 'It was... it helped.'

I looked around and saw the dusk creeping upon us. So it had been a few hours. And we hadn't eaten since morning. We had sex with a beautiful background. I giggled.

'You know...' I said, tracing my finger down from her chest to her belly button. 'It wasn't what I'd thought it would be.'

She laughed.

'And what did you think that it would be?'

'Well... I'm not sure. But I expected it to be more... formal, you know? But it wasn't. This was very free and, um, enjoyable.'

'Aha, well I am glad that my lack of expertise hasn't ruined anything for you.' she joked, but I could hear that she had been worried up to this point about it. 'Do you... want to talk about earlier?'

I thought about it. The nightmare was further away now. I still didn't want to sleep, but now that I had an alternative... Well, it wasn't all as bad as it had seemed down in that dark room full of alien remnants that belonged to a species long since dead in very mysterious circumstances.

'I will be fine.' I assured her. 'Let's eat.' I added as my stomach made a noise of protest as she approached me closer.

She agreed, smiling. We still had a lot of canned food left, beans, some kind of purple carrots with lumps on the top, some kind of mush, a few soups and a few bags of snacks.  
I decided to dress first. It was getting chillier as night approached.

'Come to think of it, do asari eat meat?' I asked offhandedly.

'We do. We are no different in that respect than any other species. Though many choose a vegetarian diet to preserve life and it's rights. The same goes for many turians.'

I decided that, we should have a proper dinner. Like one sees in vids where a boy meets a girl and then he seduces her and she becomes pregnant, runs away from home, becomes a mother and drowns her boyfriend for sleeping with her mother as well. These kinds of vids popped up every few months. And they were always a disappointment.

I heated the food with a concentrated ray of light from my omni tool, burning some of the grass in the process. Liara had found plates that we had gotten at Port Ethi and she brought out the one bottle of alcohol we had bought. I'd never tasted anything with alcohol in it. Not for any particular reason like morals, standards or principles but simply because there hadn't been any reason for it. I was curious to see what would happen.

Well actually, I had tasted medicine with alcohol in it, but that was very long ago and I couldn't remember why I had to take it in the first place.

For effect I set one of the laser lenses and connected it to my omni tool. It wasn't powerful enough to burn anything but it made for a nice candle.

Liara came back from the front of the shuttle and smiled widely as she saw my improvised romantic dinner. A thought struck me. Had I just lost my... Had I become an adult? I wasn't sure. Maybe different species didn't count. Or maybe same genders didn't count. Or rather, alternative genders, didn't count.

'It looks beautiful.' she said. 'And the food smells delicious. I think that we worked ourselves too hard today.'

'Oh?' I grinned. 'I never got the impression that you considered it as "work".'

'What? No. I meant that we exhausted ourselves physically. And so it follows logically that we are hungry.'

I shook my head in amusement.

'I was joking.'

'Joking? Ah. Yes, I see that.' she blushed.

Seeing an asari blush was a very curious thing. Her skin became purple in the oddest places. She looked a lot like the dusk at the moment. I told her so because it sounded romantic in my head.

'Yes. Ah... I am not particularly tactful, am I?' she said, blushing deeper.

'Neither am I, as it turns out.' I offered.

We ate in a contented silence, in spite of all the questions I had for her. I was now really interested in asari. Never in a million years would I have thought of myself as lesbian, but here and now, with an asari confessing of her attraction to me... But then there was the fact that, though she might look female, essentially, she wasn't. She was the best of both worlds, I guess. Or maybe a heavy compromise.

I hadn't realized that I was staring at her until she shifted uncomfortably.

'What?' she asked in a whisper.

'I was just thinking.' I shrugged.

'What about?'

'Well... You might not realize this, but you have shifted the way I see the galaxy for me. You know... as you are female... ish. And I am female-ish. I mean female. And then there is the union. What was that? It felt like-...' I had no words for it. To summarize though, I would say that it felt safe and really, really good.

'The union is how we reproduce, I think I told you this before. When minds connect, asari are able to take the genetic imprints of their partners in order to create the required second gender chromosome. But because our bodies make it themselves, following the genetic imprint of the partner as a construction manual, and not take it from our partner directly, the child will always be an asari.'

'So there are no sexually transmitted deceases amongst the asari?'

'There are a few. And if you exhaust yourself during a union then your biotic powers will suffer.'

'Can a human get these deceases?'

'No. They are all telepsychic, and one or two that affect the child through a corruption in the chromosome.'

I sighed, relieved.

'Good. Because I wouldn't know what to do if I ever got one. I don't think that medi-gel helps against them.'

I would have made an antibiotics pun, but in asari language antibiotics and biotics were two different words and so the pun wouldn't have made any sense. I wondered who called biotics for biotics in english.

'Is there any chance that I could get biotic powers through a union?' I asked, trying not to sound hopeful.

She thought about this.

'I don't actually know. Biotics comes from contact with element zero radiation. And I don't know what kind of contact our minds would share... but it is not impossible.'

'So when we are in a union... can you read my mind?'

'Yes and no. I can tell what goes on, roughly, inside your mind. Your most basic feelings and emotions. I think that you experience something much like it yourself. I can, however, read your mind to a certain degree in a more focused contact of minds.'

I thought about this.

'Would I be able to tell? If someone read my mind?'

'Yes. Both parties have to consent to sharing this information and open themselves to the connection. Of course, one could always try to overpower another mind to gain the information one needs, but that can only be accomplished by the most powerful biotics. I doubt that even my mother could.' she shivered at some memory. 'But you would be able to know what was being extracted.'

We ate and drank our way through the meal, chatting about our cultures. She asked me about Earth. The only part of Earth that I knew anything about was Japan. And that was before interstellar contact. I had read history of the Earth, of course, but I doubted that wars would be very interesting to Liara.

So I told her about the cherry blossoms and the thousand cranes and the balloon messages. She was very interested in the latter thing.

'Balloon messages? What is that?'

'Well, from what mother's told me, you write a note or letter, put it in a plastic bag, so that it wouldn't get wet, and tie it to a balloon. And then, when it eventually lands someone will read the message. It is a way of making new friends or just to share your thoughts with other people.'

'Have you done this?'

'No. Darya, my colony, was too small for that. Most knew everyone and it wasn't that far to go to the furthest settlements. And I wasn't really interested in that.'

I tried to think of more things that I could tell her about. The technology in Japan and the culture and customs. I knew about things that were more or less modern, like the holo-theaters and the manga.

The holo-theaters were plays where masked men or women dressed in traditional Japanes clothes like kimono and they would perform alongside their holographic counterparts which would, in time with the plot, transform and circle the characters much like ghosts or auras. It was usually tragedies, but I had a favourite which was a famous comedy and I ended up promising Liara to show it to her sometime.

Manga was a unique way of drawing things and characters. Many different comics had been made with varying amounts of skills but my favourites were the mysteries.

I didn't really know anything else about Japan. Things like the revolution and their contribution to first contact war wasn't that much interesting but I still gave it a go.

The Alliance consisted of all the leading nations on Earth like USA, Russia and France. Places like Africa weren't really that heavy players since they had only one port on the whole of Africa. Japan had been the lead designer of ships and VI tech for the Alliance fleet and the first ship ever to be launched on new Mass Effect technology was the Shizuka from the port on Singapore.

'You must be proud to originate form such a great nation.' smiled Liara, listening to me talking.

'I am. Though I'm not _really_ japanese, am I? I've never even been there.'

'Maybe you should visit Earth soon, then. Maybe after we have explored this ruin. Though to call something so well-preserved ruin is going a bit too far.'

I thought about this. I had the money. Well, I thought I did. And who knows what we'll find on Akuze. Maybe what I find will lead me to Earth.

'Maybe.' I nodded. 'Have you ever been on Thessia?'

'Yes. Many times during my childhood. But, much like you, I don't know about Neiria as much as I would like. Neiria is the nation where mother was born. I know that one of the greatest schools of philosophy stands there and that some of the most brilliant inventors had come from Pakela, one of the largest cities. Things like theatre and music are said to be refined and exquisite in the Orbitorium. It is a great arena where respectable musicians and theatre groups perform for audiences that number millions. The architecture is purely asari and it is said to be a very secular society, though I have no way of confirming that'

'Do asari have sports?' I asked, trying to imagine an asari kung-fu apprentice.

'We do. Racing, martial arts, biotic arts, it is very much like what humans, turians and batarians have. Though, admittedly, batarians have only the crudest of all sports.'

'Crudest?'

'Well, in racing, they drive the heaviest shuttles in order to destroy as many opponents as possible before reaching the goal. And their martial arts are...'

'I get it.' I nodded, grimacing. 'Why are batarians, ah, crude?'

'I have a theory on that.' she said, raising a finger. 'On Tellus, Earth, your dominant customs and societies are diplomatic tinged with militaristic and economical sectors. It is, in all, much like the galaxy only on a smaller scale. But when the batarians discovered interstellar travel their dominant societies were competitive, militaristic types. And a lot of the time, after interstellar travel is made and a connection with the other species is established the development of societies halts on that planet and instead spreads out to the galaxy.'

'Interesting.' I said, thinking this through. She was probably right as well.

I yawned and stretched, tired and full of food and thought.

'Let's clean this up and get back together. I mean, get back to bed.' I grinned.

She took the hint. The rest of the night was spent in a considerably more pleasant company than any other night in my life thus far.

'Touch nothing.' I said as we were once again down in that ancient building, under ground.

'Agreed.' nodded Liara.

It was morning and, though we'd had no sleep, we were both feeling very rested and ready for adventure. Well, Liara was at any rate. I was terrified of returning to Akuze. To my nightmare. This time I decided to do the safe things. I'd go and dust beds and tables and poles. Or rather, I'd blow the dust away with my omni tool. I wasn't stupid enough to touch anything else again. Ever.

This time we decided to walk together, instead of splitting up.

'What do you think the purpose of that grave was?' asked Liara as we passed that room. I was careful to avoid looking inside it in case that would trigger the nightmare again.

'Well... My mind isn't prothean. Maybe it was some kind of... Mind psycho-analysis thing. I'm not sure.' I shrugged. The point of it didn't really concern me.

'Yes. That is what I thought as well.' she agreed.

We approached what seemed to be an altar, or maybe a control panel. It was grand and pointy at any rate. I was about to poke it with my finger, to find out what it felt like, when logic got the better of me.

Liara scanned it with her omni tool.

'This is... remarkably strange.' she said as if summarizing.

'What is?'

'The... the readings tell me that there is still some power left. There is a dormant generator withing this array.' she nodded towards the altar, still looking down at her omni tool. 'But it isn't leading anywhere. It's just there. Like a spare.'

'Maybe it is a spare.'

'Perhaps.'

We stood looking at it awkwardly for a brief moment.

'You want us to poke it, right?' I said in defeat eventually.

'I doubt that the same thing will happen again.' said Liara bracingly. 'What would be the point of having every piece of equipment doing the same thing over and over?'

This had occurred to me as well but I was still cautious as I pressed what I had assumed to be a button. It wasn't. It was just a logo.

'Hey look, ancient adds.' I said dryly and Liara laughed.

I pressed the triangles that looked a lot like just a decorative pattern. Of course they were the buttons. But nothing happened.

'Agh. You want me to twiddle with it.' I said in mock-annoyance.

'Please.'

'Fine.'

I scanned the thing with my omni tool and had the generator displayed within seconds.

'Huh. You're right, this is weird. This looks completely and utterly pointless.'

'Can you do anything with it?' she asked, nervous.

'Sure. But... look. Do we really want to resurrect whatever that is dead here?'

'Yes. We must know.' she said without a seconds hesitation. I guessed that, as she had less incentive than I to fear this stuff, to her it presented less cons and more pros.

I started to decipher the programing that the protheans had used on the generator software. It reminded me of that MENSA test I'd been given after the doctors had looked into my brain and agreed that I had a small monster living in it. I laughed.

'What?'

'Oh nothing. Just thinking human.' I shrugged.

But luckily the programing was simple and to the point. The commands for what the generator was supposed to do. The safety protocols. The power feed regulations. I had no idea which was which but the set-up for the basic programing was much the same as any in this galaxy. I guessed that there was really nothing to be done with a generator aside from taking power.

While I was working Liara was exploring the room. Unlike me she touched everything she saw and gasped in amazement for every tiny thing as she managed to figure out what they were supposed to be. Mainly they were journals and lists of things to be done. Checklists and the like. She examined the tables and managed to raise a panel with old circuits on it. It looked like the hologram generators that most surveillance used for observation. The design was off but I could see the circuiting resemblances. Fifty thousand years and we had progressed to a slightly more efficient design? That didn't seem real. Was this really a prothean base?

'Is this really a prothean base?' I had to ask.

'Yes. I recognize the architecture and the letters. They are the same as the ones I found on Etheilia.'

'Of course.' I said, turning back to my omni tool.

I still had no idea what any of the text on the display meant, and I decided, against my better judgement, to go on trial and error. The worst case scenario – we would die as this place collapsed on us. Best case scenario – I'd find some chocolate in here. That was unlikely and so I settled for hoping not to die.

'Ah, Liara?'

'Yes?'

'I would take cover if I were you.' I suggested casually.

'Why? What's wrong?'

'Well, I'll try to power up this fifty thousand years old generator through a software that I can't figure out after having barely poked it.'

She took cover.

'Maybe we should wait until-...'

I started up the generator. Or rather, I pressed several buttons, hoping to activate some command or other and praying that it wasn't self-destruct. A light flickered on in the altar. Oh good. All the tall radio antenna-like poles began to glow with a green light. Better. We had more light. Now how did you turn on the lamps?

I squealed as something began dragging at me. At first I thought that it was a mouse. Or a cat. Or that I'd become magnetic. You never know, right? It was neither. The green glow seemed to seep under my skin and I groaned. Something would happen again. Something bad.

The room lit up with a blinding light, all the machinery making electric noises. I worked my omni tool to shut it all down. Something like a countdown appeared and I cursed. Self-destruct. Why did they have an option for self-destruct but none for lamps?

What happened next would have made me scream with horror had I not been to preoccupied paying attention to it.

Images flashed through my head. None of the made sense. They were blurred, black and white, sepia, colour, sound, emotion, sensation, birth, death. Everything went through my mind. I squinted as if I expected to see it all better. I didn't. The torrent of images began to slow and I could see again. The light was now dull, or duller, and the noises had stopped.

Liara was running towards me, shock written across her face. I wanted to say that I was fine when suddenly the ground hit my legs and I fell. I hadn't noticed that I was levitating. The green glow had vanished and was replaced by, thankfully, lamps. It hadn't been self-destruct. It had been a power start-up.

'Oh Min!' she half-shouted. 'Are you alright? Are you hurt?'

'I'm fine.' I shrugged, getting back up on my feet. My head throbbed like hell, but that was the hangover from last night. My mind was spinning rapidly, trying to see how many times it could circle me until I caught it. I couldn't catch it so it decided to sit down and rest.

'What happened?' prompted Liara.

'I saw...' I tried to sift through the emotions and images. 'I think that it is an elephant.'

She stared at me as if I'd gone mad.

'Sorry?' she asked.

'Well, there's a lot of noise and there's a lot of sound and a lot of sensation in general. That's how I expect an elephant market to be.' I shrugged.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

'You're joking, aren't you?' she asked eventually.

'Yes. But I don't know what I saw. It was like... a lot of people in one room shouting advice, information and curses at me while I'm swimming. I'll need time to figure this out.' I shook my head.

Liara approached one of the antennas and touched it. Nothing happened.

'Could you start it up again?' she asked, hopeful.

'I doubt it. Or, maybe. I've no idea.' I thought about this. 'Actually, I think I could. Where's the plug?'

'Plug?'

'Yes. The electric plug. The cable that connects the generator with the rest.'

I searched everywhere and scanned the surroundings of the generator but as far as I could tell, it was still stand-alone. It wasn't connected to anything.

I took up something that looked like a torch with a very thin end and used it as a crowbar on the altar.

'No!' said Liara, gasping. 'What are you doing?'

'I'll shut it off and start it again. The antenna things were activated at start-up. I've saved that command and so I can do it again, but only if the generator is off to start with.'

She looked torn between curiosity and fear for this building. Eventually she nodded.

I was as careful as I could when dismantling the altar and, luckily, nothing important broke. I scratched the paint and some of the cover split into tiny shreds of... nothing, but aside from that it remained intact as I took off the front cover. There was no generator.

'Ah, damn. I knew that it was too easy.' I sighed.

'Where did it go?'

'It didn't go anywhere. It's a phantom signal. The actual generator is somewhere else. This is a... ' I searched for the word. '... transistor. We pick it up as a power-source because it makes the power-source. Look.' I pointed towards what looked like glass at the edges of the inside of the altar. 'It's solar-powered. This place had been built to withstand anything. Even being buried. Otherwise the mirrors wouldn't go so high up. It would be too impractical.'

Liara was ecstatic at this discovery and not at all upset when I told her that, though I would try to find the command to activate the antennas again, it would probably take years to decipher the software and that we were more than just lucky in managing to turn the thing on at all.

We spent the rest of the morning and up to late midday taking pictures and notes of everything in this first room. After roughtly four hours time we had over a thousand pictures of every tiny thing, more than twenty pages full of notes on what we had found and an analysis that was roughly thirty pages. And the headache was getting worse. Though, on a brighter note, the images were getting clearer.

From time to time Liara would ask me if anything had become easier to distinguish, but a few hours was really not enough and she realized it. She had offered to join minds, in order to help me sort it all out, but for some reason, she hadn't seen what I had. Repeatedly, she told me to focus on the images, but it was impossible because there was no one point at which I could grasp and focus. It was all in one. Like a smudge.

And as weariness took us, we decided to leave for the time being.

'This is more than anything I have ever dreamed of finding!' repeated Liara for a hundredth time, just to taste the words. 'These are databanks and records of protheans, actual protheans, still intact!'

I shook my head in amusement at her enthusiasm.

'You know, when you said that there was so little left from the protheans, I assumed that this would be some bunker with a helicopter drawing in there or something along those lines. Not the notes on a civilization.'

'It seems that you bring luck, Min.' she grinned and then returned to her notes and photos. 'Tomorrow we'll be recording-...'

'Well, well, well.' said a male voice from somewhere behind the shuttle. We were out of the hole by now. 'A real treasure, eh boys?'

My heart sank. Luck? No way. Pirates? ... Yes.

'Hi.' I said darkly. 'Look, you've come at a very bad time-...'

'But you see, for us, this is the perfect time.' said a fat man, stepping forward from behind the shuttle. 'Because... you're here already!'

'Ah, well that's kind of why this is a bad time.' I said, rolling my eyes.

'This is our excavation ground.' said Liara calmly. 'I ask you to leave before anyone gets hurt.'

I would have slapped my forehead if I hadn't been aware that the man was looking intently at us.

'Hurt? Hmm... You make a good argument.' said the man, shaking his finger wisely at us. 'But it seems to me that, as I have weapons and you don't, that is a one-sided concern. Don't you think?'

I would have dearly loved to cover Liara's mouth with my hand to keep her from saying what she was about to say because she hadn't noticed the multiple boot prints on the ground around our camp. There were at least... I counted seven more men. And one woman, or a man with very small feet.

'But I have the power to crush you with my mind.' she threatened.

And then we were surrounded. I sniffed casually, looking around in disinterest. My head was hurting too much for any real emotion, but I had a plan.

'Kill them.' said the man, ruining my brilliant plan.

'And lose all the valuable tech we found down there?' I said quickly.

'Don't kill them.' he said stoutly. 'What are you saying?'

'I will not hand such technology over to pirates.' said Liara angrily. I made a noise like a boiling teakettle.

'And you intend to stop them how, if you are dead?' I hissed in a low voice.

'I sense plotting.' growled the fat man in amusement.

'Good sense.' I agreed airily. 'We were planing how to help you take the tech with you.'

'Ah.' he sighed as if coming to a tricky conclusion. 'You are so full of shit that it reeks. Kill them.'

'I can crack that software.' I said faster than last time.

'Riiight. Don't kill them. And talk fast girl, I'm not good at being patient.' he growled, finally becoming serious.

'Well, to decipher the software would take about a year or so. But I could do something else. I could make a program to cross-reference all the commands that now exist on the software with the commands on our software and transfer the one we can control to the power systems, erasing the old software.'

He looked blankly at me. Then he turned around and looked at one of his men. The man seemed to give it some thought before he nodded.

'Fine.' growled the fat man.

'Liara, see that laser on the table?' I hissed as the fat man started commanding the others to "make a perimeter". 'Make it lay down facing us.'

She quickly tripped the laser we had used last night as a candle so that it pointed right towards me.

'Well?' growled the fat man. 'What will you need?'

I thought. What would I need? Thirty minutes.

'I need an hour. Then it's done.' that would give me two attempts.

'One hour?' he barked in surprise. 'I heard you telling your girlfriend that it was near impossible to do it within a day.'

'Panic increases brain activity. And I have a fairly well-oiled brain.' I offered.

He glared at me for a long while.

'One. Hour.'

I nodded. To my delight the stupid, fat idiot sat down behind out make-shift table and took forth a bag of crisps. My bag of crisps. I suppressed an angry shiver.

'I'll need your help, Liara.' I said in a normal, clear voice. She frowned at me. 'Go down and get all the mirrors you find down there.'

She frowned even deeper but obliged.

'Why do you need mirrors?' asked the man.

'Because I'll need to bring up the hardware from downstairs up here so that I can start the program. But it runs on solar power.'

'Yes, I heard.' he said, his attention returning to his crisps. This had been exactly the answer I had been hoping for.

'How long have you been here?' I asked as if it didn't really matter to me but was slightly annoying.

'About five hours ago.' he shrugged. 'Now work. Or bam!'

I raised my eyebrows.

The truth of the situation was that there was no program that could possibly cross-reference the alien software _until_ it was actually deciphered. Which is why we needed to decipher it before doing anything else. And which is why, in case my plan failed miserably, which was likely, I would get shot. And Liara would have a fighting chance as I would make sure to keep her underground as much as possible.

It took Liara fifteen minutes to bring up all the mirrors. I looked at them critically. They were dusty and some were shattered. But they would do.

'And now get the dream thing.' I said very pointedly.

'Dream thing?' she frowned.

'Yes. _My_ dream thing.'

'Oh.' realization of what I wanted to do hit her and she could barely keep from smiling. 'Alright.'

'But don't open them. We don't want them to be damaged by sunlight.' I said so that all of the pirates could hear.

'What exactly is this dream thing?' asked the fat man, who's name was Jonathan Aether.

'It's the hardware containing all what we need to make the cross-referencing. Then we'll arrange the mirrors to stand the right way, bring up one of the, ah, beacons and it will be a matter of minutes until we can make this base operate work on our software.'

I had no idea what I had said but as Jonathan looked back towards Erik, his tech-engineer, the man nodded again, almost desperately. He had no idea either.

It took Liara less than five minutes and she was back with the grave-like thing that had caused my nightmare. Two pirates had to help her set it on the opposite side of where the laser. Though, of course, no one knew that that's why it was place there.

Now came the part that was really tricky and most likely to kill me.

'Liara, try get the antenna out.' I said, waving her away again.

'What? They're too big to fit-...'

'Dismantle it, obviously.' I said in exasperation.

She tried to understand what I wanted with it but I made sure that my face was clear of all expressions but innocence.

'And carry it all up?' she asked, confused. 'It's too big-...'

'Roman, David! Go down and help her.' ordered Jonathan.

All three of them went downstairs. I hoped to god that Liara could handle two humans with her biotics.

There were still six of them left.

I started arranging the mirrors in a way that seemed random at first, leaving them slightly off every time I passed them. I couldn't allow them to point the right way just yet.

I place a few crane-engines next to some of the mirrors. Everyone were watching my progress now, but no one was onto me yet. I ran a simulation of all the angles. They seemed right. Now to get the troops in place.

'I'll need all your men to leave.' I said to Jonathan.

'Do you think I'm stupid?' he barked. Smart boy. 'Why?'

'The mirrors will need to focus on certain points and they might get in the way.' I said, gesturing around us.

'My men ain't going nowhere. Point the mirrors somewhere else.'

I made an exasperated huff.

'Look, I can't help that this is the only viable power-source!' I said angrily.

He thought for a moment.

'No. Figure out a better way.'

I pretended to think.

'Well, they can stay... I guess. But then they'll have to stay at specific places.' I frowned as if counting something.

'No way. You have to do better.' he spat. This ruined my plan.

'There is nothing better! Look, I'm handing over a prothean ruin to you in exchange for our lives! And you won't even pull your thumb out of your ass long enough to make your men stay? How do you keep order?'

Basic psychology, focus on a different problem and he won't notice the obvious.

'Well... ' he sighed. 'Fine. But we're keeping the weapons.' he said every word clearly.

'Go ahead. Much good they'll do you.' I grumbled.

I clutched my head as the pain grew worse.

'What now?' he almost yelled in anger.

'Just a headache, keep your hat on.' I said, wincing at the sound of his shouting. 'Liara, how goes it?'

'_Two pieces done._' she said. Good girl.

'I suppose that we might as well start.' I shrugged. 'You two, get over there, or you'll get a tan that makes a vorcha look pretty.' I said to two men with assault rifles. 'You.' I said to the one woman, I'd been right, 'Stand somewhere there or we won't get enough power.' I gestured to the opposite side of the men, trying to pretend that she didn't need to stand _precisely_ there or my plan would die with me. I ordered the last of the men into positions.

I had to force myself not to count down from three, seeing as this was a program that would take minutes and not seconds. But the occasion demanded it.

'Three.' I said, looking around. Jonathan glared around, suspicious. 'Two.' he seemed to be onto something. 'One.' he saw his reflection in the mirror and flattened his hair. 'Go.'

I pressed one button on my omni tool and all the mirrors turned to face the right way just as the shuttle suddenly fed the laser with all it's energy. The lock on the hatch to the grave-like thing broke off with a pang and the hatch fell down. The sun shone directly on it, displaying it's reflection in every mirror.

I was the only one not looking into them.

It was almost comical, as every person collapsed simultaneously. I could have done this with only the grave, but then not everyone would have been looking and I'd have no reason to put people in position.

'Liara, get up here and close the grave with your biotics.' I said, shattering all the mirrors, making sure not to look into them nor the grave itself.

I started binding the men up as fast as I could. I had no idea for how long they'd be out and didn't want to risk anything. I threw their weapons aside as soon as I was done with the binding. Liara had come up and shut the grave, placing it upside down so that it wouldn't re-open.

And then the men started coming to. Some of them awoke screaming in horror while others seemed to be disappointed to be back, clearly having had a nice dream.

'What the hell?' shouted Jonathan. 'What the hell was that!'

'A magic trick.' I said mysteriously.

And then a worrisome thought struck me. Where was their ship?

'Blast them all to hell!' he shouted into his com.

I squeezed my eyes shut. This day simply refused to be a good day.

With no time to think it through I took Liara by her arm and pulled her along, into the shuttle. It took me seconds to get it started and almost a minute until we were off the planet. We saw in the distance how a pirate frigate bombarded the place of our excavation. Clearly, they didn't know that their leader was still there. Nor that we had escaped. They were just following orders.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: In the clear

'I'm so sorry.' I said as we watched the frigate orbiting the planet, looking for our shuttle. 'I didn't mean for them to blow up the prothean base.'

She laughed in a way that suggested she didn't think it was my fault but was still upset.

'At least we got some of the information on our omni tools.' she said, copying them to the shuttle's computer just in case. 'And we have pictures and...' she cut off.

This was really tearing her up. She grieved for the loss of something so ancient and mysterious. And I couldn't help but grieve with her.

We were hiding out on one of the moons belonging to the planet. We couldn't leave, not yet, because their sensors would pick us up instantly. As soon as they had realized their error they had activated their trackers and instantly zeroed in on our position. It had taken me a bit of very crude and destructive hacking to shut down their scanners long enough for us to hide.

'But what really bothers me... ' she said in a quiet voice. '... is that if you hadn't come with me. To this excavation. I would have been dead now.'

I thought about this. It was true that they would have come either way. But there was nothing that suggested that she wouldn't have managed as well on her own. She might even have saved the base. I told her this.

'I barely overpowered the two men who followed with me down with my biotics. I wouldn't have stood a chance against them all.'

I laughed tiredly.

'Why do you people always think that direct fighting is the right way to solve things?'

'Well, to be honest, you idea was extremely far-fetched and well-executed.' she said. Ah, the praise. If only my head would stop hurting so that I could bask in the praise.

'Well, I'm just that kind of person, you know.' I said, trying to sound smug. 'Hey. This shuttle has a first aid kit, right?'

'Yes. Here.' she pointed towards a red and white kit under the driver's seat.

'Oh goody. Give me the medi-gel.'

'Where are you hurt?' she asked in alarm.

'I'm not. But it turns out that this stuff has painkillers.' I replied tiredly. The night of sex and no sleep seemed like a stupid idea now.

'Go to sleep.' said Liara soothingly. How she could keep her own eyes open I didn't know. It took no persuading at all to make me sleep now.

_A person. He has long black tubes in his throat. He needs them or else his throat will collapse and his digestion will poison him. A list of toxins flashed in my mind. A woman with broken bones. Her eyes are blind. A list of chemicals flashed in my mind. A child playing in the sand. A list of people flashed in my mind. A man with a pistol to his head. A man with his hands clutching his head. A woman with her husband. A happy family. A list of dead people. A song with words I did not understand. A song in a voice that would be a whisper had it been any softer. Steam and pipes. Engines and bridges. Birds and planes. The Alliance and Akuze. _

I woke up with a start. The images were still flashing in my mind, only now I could pinpoint them, if briefly. But the voice. The one who had been talking to me in my sleep. The one who had been explaining the images. I shook my head, scattering all the images. I didn't want them anymore. They were too much trouble.

I looked around to see where I was exactly. Waking up in new and strange places was becoming way too every-day for me. I had to slow down on this life-style.

Liara was sleeping next to me, sighing gently in her sleep. It was a troubled sleep. She was dreaming of the prothean base. I sat still, listening to her sighs. It took me a while, but I was certain that it wasn't a nightmare and so I let her sleep on.

What was the frigate doing? I launched the shuttle's scanners. There was no ship orbiting the planet anymore. I frowned. This was too quick. I decided to check all the moons. Just in case the new captain had a brain-wave.

Damn it. They were scanning the moon on the other side. There were three moons in all and I had no idea if they had scanned the one to our left or not. Either way, we had little time left. I huffed. What to do now?

The mass relay wasn't that far away. But a shuttle can't beat a frigate in a race. And it would be obvious that we were heading that way. I thought this through carefully. There had been enough power going through the transistor to trick us into thinking that it was a generator. There had been an array of controls attached to it to enhance that idea. Could I duplicate that effect using our shuttle? Hmm? No? Alright. Could we engage in a fire fight? No weapons. Maybe use the mining laser? No, we'd die too soon for that to work. Could I hack them? With a lot of time and effort, yes, but again, I wouldn't be quick enough now that they were prepared for hacking attempts.

Maybe try and talk to them? And then get kidnapped? Liara had her rich mother. No, that plan was wrong on too many levels. What would happen if I did nothing? They would find us and either take our shuttle or just shoot us down.

What would happen if I hid our all of our heat emissions? They wouldn't find us. Could I hide them? No. Ah, but I _could_ make them think that we had died.

I scanned the surface of this moon. Then the next. Fine, I couldn't make them think that we had died.

I'd planned to heat up rock, or a piece of debris to make it look like our shuttle on the scanners. And then we would hide just behind it. When the frigate fired they'd destroy the debris and the remaining heat, that came from us, would simply look like phantom radiation. But alas, no debris.

We were stuck between a rock and a bunch of greedy and angry pirates.

Wait. Did this mean that they had stopped scanning the planet? I ran a few flight simulations. The angle we were at right now would hide us from the scanners if we flew towards the southern pole of the planet. There would be a thirty, maybe forty seconds gap during which we'd be exposed enough for them to track us. Could we get away?

It was a huge risk. I looked over at Liara who was still asleep. In retrospect, falling asleep had been a dangerous idea. I thanked all the gods I didn't believe in for waking me.

I had to make a choice soon. Should I go for it or should I take my chances with running away to the mass relay?

I could always try to intimidate the pirates. And then I could loose my hair and become an asari. Or an elephant. Or did elephants have hair? Surely a little. Did this make asari non-mammal? No, I was sure that they were still mammals. I couldn't be sure of the things you needed to posses for mammal-hood.

Focus, Min! Were turians mammals? Never mind.

Was there a way to boost our shuttle to outrun the frigate? I checked the engine and the mass effect core. No. Not even if I pushed from outside. Did we even have shields? Yes. Just enough to survive the first shot. Did we have holographic projectors? Yes. Hmm. This was interesting. And how far could I throw the shield generator from this moon? I did the math on the omni tool. It looked very promising.

Here was my new and improved plan. I would remove the shield generator, project a hologram of a shuttle around it and send it at full speed towards their frigate. The generator would be on full strength and I would add some more power cells from the shuttle so that it would survive two shots, in case they had the chance to fire.

My hands shook as I started removing the shield generator.

'What's going on?' asked Liara, the noise waking her.

'Ah, you know. The usual.' I said rather hysterically.

'What's wrong?'

'Well, the pirates are scanning the moons. I doubt that we have a minute if that left to live so I'm trying to convince them that we died. And... no, that was really it.'

She sat very still for a second.

'What can I do to help?' she asked, fear pushing her of the shuttle seat.

'Ah... scan in the hull of the shuttle and make it into a hologram.' I said, gesturing around to indicate the shuttle in general.

I finally got the shield generator out of the bunch of hardware and power generators. The mass effect core in the shuttle was a tiny and pathetic thing. Would we really need it, or could I use it to enhance the shields? I did more math on the omni tool. The energy the back-up generators provided wouldn't take us to the mass relay but they would take us to Port Coulai, where we had rented the shuttle in the first place. Or very close to the port anyways. I winced as I realized that we would have to pay for all the damage made to the shuttle. Ah well, better broke than dead.

I shut down all the power for a few seconds to remove the mass effect core, Liara watching the whole thing skeptically.

As the shield was up and running, the holographic projector attached to the generator, we got into the cockpit and vented the cargo. And out came a perfect duplicate of our shuttle. It started to drift away and we had to intercept it to stop it from going anywhere.

'Now what?' asked Liara, looking curiously at the shuttle. The frigate was finishing up with the scan of the other moon.

'Now... let's hope that the shields hold.'

We turned the shuttle to the angle my omni tool indicated for the propulsion of the holo-shuttle to be aimed straight towards the frigate. I suddenly had a horrible pang of anxiety, feeling that this was a stupid idea and would never work. Luckily, I was good at ignoring my instincts. Because as we started up the engines, the blast shot the shield generator away with something twice the speed of sound. If sound had existed in empty space.

Instantly I set the FTL drive on and felt the internal dampeners be reduced to nothing (though of course that was not true) as we accelerated to the speed of roughly nine hundred thousand kilometres per second in an instant. I was pushed back into the seat of the shuttle. The speed held steady for somewhere around a minute when the power died. Completely.

Without the signal enhancers provided by the shuttle I couldn't scan the space around us to figure out if the frigate was after us or not. But I could see, out of the shuttle's window, a planet just ahead. It was just a small, green and blue spec from the distance, but I knew that we weren't that far away and that we were keeping a constant speed towards it. If only the air supply didn't die on us we would be fine. Or if the frigate didn't catch up. I would have called in help from the port, but again, no enhancers.

'See if we cans scavenge power from anything.' I said to Liara, checking how much oxygen we had left.

'I don't know how.' she looked around curiously.

'Ah, right. Your omni tool has a scan for electron activity, like when the electrons on the exterior shell of iron shift position to conduct electricity. Anything that gives a spike on the scan can be used as a power-source. Then you check for where the connections go and whether there are alternate routes to, say engines or life support.'

'How do I extend the scan radius?'

'You can move it, though that would ruin the scan or you can put in the graph coordinates here.' I showed her the panels for where to enter the information it wanted in exchange for the information we need.

'Ah. So I can just move like that? No. Oh, on the cross thing, alright.' she nodded and started searching for anything useful. 'Alright, how do I reroute?' she asked, satisfied with some find.

I was done with checking the shuttle for oxygen, information that yielded me no end of stress, and looked at what she had found.

'Ah, there are no leading routes, see? The spike ends there. If there had been a route then it would have increased at the end.'

I looked around to figure out what was the source of power. It was just the gun that Jonathan, the pirate, had brought with him.

'Liara.' I said in a falsely calm voice. She didn't notice.

'Yes?'

'We have about thirty more minutes of oxygen left.'

'Alright.' she looked towards the spec of a planet. 'Are we going to make it?'

I drew in a deep breath and thought. It was unlikely. We could fall asleep and drag it out for about five hours, but would we have arrived by then? Seemed stupid to remove the mass effect core in retrospect, but our false shuttle had to look convincing. I wondered whether they had simply shot it down or whether it had hit the frigate without them even noticing it.

'If we fall asleep now... then there might be a good chance for us to make it.' I sounded evasive instead of certain. 'And then the patrols can pick us up.'

I wondered at the range at which the patrols flew. It was probably just outside of the planets gravitational pull, so we weren't too far away form them.

She realized that we were int trouble. Again.

'What if we found more power?'

'Well, we could give it to the life support. That would buy us some time. A day, if we're lucky. But without the core...' I shrugged.

'Don't we have H3 fuel as back-up?' she frowned.

'This is a shuttle. H3 is kept in huge cylinders with loads of cooling around them. This shuttle wouldn't be equipped with it unless it was built for exploration of stars. Which it wasn't. Stupid terminus systems.'

'Alright. Asleep. Ok.' Liara was wide-eyed with panic as she lay down on the folded back seat.

I searched the first aid kit. No sedatives. I still gave us some omni-gel because I had a head ache and because I suspected that Liara had one too. And we fell asleep, too tired to wait up and too powerless to do anything else.

I sniffed the air. It smelled good. Like a field of flowers or berries. I recognized the smell. That's how Liara smelled. It was nice. But when I opened my eyes, to my confusion, I saw a turian looking down at me. He seemed to be frowning in a worried sort of way, but one can never tell with turians. I sat up and looked about the place. Liara was asleep just beside me.

'Good morning.' said the turian casually.

'Good morning – is it morning?'

He shrugged.

'It was when you arrived. Now it's more like lunch.' he checked something on his omni tool. 'Numine Shin'ichi, right? And that is a very interesting companion you have. Benezia's daughter. I doubt that Liara's mother will approve of her partner, but...' he shrugged in a way that suggested that it wasn't his call.

'Ah, look, can you tell me what happened?' I was fairly sure I knew, but the way he behaved seemed strange to me.

'We found you shuttle, it burned up on re-entry by the way, and took you to the space dock. Then we found your stash and now you're on the colony, under arrest for murder.'

Oh hell. How did this happen? Death, explosion, death, suffocation and now arrest. I'd bet my life on that death would come after arrest. Seeing as it skipped the last turn.

'Murder of whom, exactly?'

As a reply he took forward a gun. It was that pirate's gun. I thought back to Jonathan himself. He'd been wearing gauntlets, or gloves. Maybe they wouldn't find his finger prints on it. But nor would they find ours. And we had no gloves.

'This gun is a custom made, Binary Helix, Whisper. It's a low caliber, high-heated thing and very rare. And the one carrying it is wanted all over the Terminus.'

'Ah, well the one carrying it died on that planet that we visited with our shuttle.'

He blinked.

'Jon died?'

'You know Jon?' I asked, nodding fervently. I couldn't tell if this was going for better or worse, but he believed me.

'Yeah. A human ass hole, much like the most of them. No offence. Been paying the higher-ups for years. Are you sure that he's dead?'

'Go back to the planet and check our excavation site. If he's dead then that's where his remains will be.'

The turian nodded and went off to speak with his superiors. Before he was within reach however he turned back to us.

'Ah, you two will need to be locked in there. I was about to bring you there when you woke up.' he pointed towards a cell. Damn.

'Liara, get up.' I shook her gently. She was so soft and warm that I felt an irrational heat rise up to my neck.

'What? Are we there yet?'

'Yes. And we're under arrest.' I said dully.

'What? Why?'

As we were led into the cell I explained it all to Liara.

'I have the worst of luck.' she shook her head.

'Yeah, but look at it this way... You've got me.' I said shrugging.

She hugged me and we resigned ourselves to spending the time assigned in the cell calmly while the security sent three war ships to investigate, after we had told them our full story.

The cell was rather comfy, with soft, or soft-ish, benches and beige walls. It reminded me for some reason of the hospital.

'I think that we need to talk.' said Liara, her head on my lap. I was stroking her blue spikes, gently tracing the contours.

'We do? Oh yeah. We do.' I pretended to know what she meant. 'Do you want to start?'

She smiled and shook her head.

'I meant about us. Me... and you.'

I would have huffed had it not seemed to be offensive. I thought that "we" were pretty great at the moment.

'Are you worried that I'll leave now that we are done?' I asked plaintively. 'Because I won't. I think that I like doing this digging and searching.'

She scowled at me.

'I promised to help you and I will.' she said rather heatedly. 'But I do worry. I don't want you to do this kind of thing because of me. You've been through a lot in a very short amount of time.'

This I had to agree with. It seemed as if every turn I made hid a trap somewhere. So far, I had avoided stepping into the trap. Unless you count the cell, but what choice did I have, really?

'It's not so bad.' I joked. 'Our nights help ease tension.'

She shook her head in mock-sadness.

'You have the emotional processing of a salarian, you know that? And their thought processing as well.' she mused. 'Maybe you are in some way related to them? Maybe you were traumatized enough for it to affect how your brain works and improve it's... functioning.'

'I doubt it. As best I can tell, I've gotten thicker than I was before. I mean, who sends off a shield _and_ the mass effect core? That's just stupid.'

'Wait. How did the shuttle go into FTL if we sent away the mass effect core?'

'Well the engines themselves are mass effect technology, aren't they?' I shrugged simply. 'To reduce the affect on acceleration and deceleration.' I explained as Liara frowned. 'So that the dampeners won't get wrecked when you leave FTL?' she was still frowning. 'Oh never mind. It worked, didn't it?'

She nodded, her expression clearing.

'But I side-tracked us. What I meant to say is that you have done a lot for me but I don't want you to stay if it's only because of the... relationship we have. There is nothing I can repay you with.'

I wasn't really good at heavy conversations like this. Logic and theories were fine, there was always a rational solution to them. But this... I couldn't tell if what I felt affected _how_ I felt or if I really didn't mind being with Liara and our relationship was just a bonus.

I searched my feelings. I could instinctively tell that, friend or foe, she was too interesting to be let go. I wanted this. To fight instead of shutting myself away. To live for just a moment. But I also wanted to cut all the loose ends with my past. To figure out Akuze. It was curiosity more than anything else that made me want to figure it out. I was sure that, even if I did, there was no way to avenge my mother. I felt a stab as I realized that... She had wanted to see my boyfriend, always asking me who it was. I had never had one, I think, until now. I wondered how she would have reacted. Would she approve? I couldn't be sure. And now there was no way to find out. And father had no say in this matter any more. He had no more say in my life at all unless it was at gunpoint.

'I wonder...' I trailed off, realizing that I would only kill the mood. Come to think of it, there wasn't really any mood here as this was a cell, but still...

'What?' she asked, looking curious.

Said A, have to say B. Damn.

'I wonder what my mother would have thought of you.'

She frowned.

'You don't think that she would have liked me?' she sounded worried.

'No. It's just not something I've ever considered. And I don't think she did either. You know, since Akuze was a human colony.' she nodded in understanding. 'But I think that she wouldn't have minded much. Not you, at any rate. She'd probably think that you are a very nice person.'

Liara laughed a little uncomfortably but pleased all the same.

'And your mother?' I asked before I could stop myself.

'I don't know. I have no idea what her take on humans is. I don't think that she dislikes them, but...' she frowned, thinking hard. 'She would support my choice, I think. Because I am young and you are so short-lived. No offence.'

'None taken.'

'But I don't think that it really matters at the moment.' she added, vaguely gesturing around the cell.

'You're right.' I agreed, taking a deep breath.

I wondered whether there was any food for us. It had been a very long time since I last ate. I didn't even want to think how long. And I really had to pee.

'Ah, guard?'

'Yes?'

'I have to go to the bathroom.'

He gestured towards the toilet in the cell. I pressed my lips together.

'Please?' I looked at him pleadingly, not entirely sure whether he could tell my facial expression.

He deliberated for a moment and then nodded.

'Fine.'

He opened the cell and escorted me to a real bathroom. Liara stood up to follow.

'And where are you going?' asked the turian, pushing us both back into the cell.

'Ah, bathroom.' she said, wide-eyed.

He squinted at us.

'We can go separately.' I said, siting back down.

I had to really struggle in order to wait patiently and the turian wasn't in any hurry, though when he finally let me out he didn't bother running after me as I dashed towards the bathroom.

Inside were loads of stickers and leaflets with the words "Blue Suns" written in impressive letters that were intended to attract attention. They seemed to be some sort of mercenary defence organization.

I shook my head, leaving the bathroom. How could anyone put themselves in front of bullets for money? That must take a real idiot to agree to something like that. And then I saw the Blue Suns logo on the guard's armour. Of course. We were guarded by mercenaries.

As if the guard had read my mind, there were two trays of food when I returned to the cell. It was some kind of warm mush, but it smelled nice and it tasted fairly well.

It was a lot like goulash that someone had spilled flour on. And the drink was something alcoholic.

'You're giving us beer?' I asked, very amused.

'No. I'm giving you trudgar.' he shrugged.

'What's that?'

'It's a cocktail of different drinks that they serve in the Asteria, down on the colony.'

'But why give us alcohol?'

'You don't like it?'

I had to mold this one over. Did I like it? I couldn't tell. I had only one other thing to compare it with and I couldn't really remember what Liara and I ate and drank "our" first night.

'It's ok.' I shrugged.

'Well then.'

'Good man.' I offered.

He grinned and walked away to his desk to watch some sit-com.

'Interesting how we are the only criminals here.' I pointed out to Liara.

'The real criminals are kept on the higher levels.' she explained. 'If they are not sure, they tend to be lest strict with security. And as we were able in impress enough to start an investigation, they must feel that we are pretty harmless.'

'You've been _here _before?' I asked, shocked.

'Yes, once. I was travelling with a quarian and they threw us in this very cell for vagrancy. Of course, he had been innocent but it had taken four day to clear it out.'

'Four days? If he was innocent then a check should have been simple.' I said, frowning. Mercenaries indeed.

'You don't understand. Quarians are... they are not trusted. It's... They tend to leave their, ah, less than honest people on planets where there are other people. Which makes others think that all quarians are less than honest.' she summed up what she had wanted to explain.

I just nodded. It seemed like a long explanation to do in a cell. We'd have time later.

We spent another hour in the cell until eventually the scouting warships returned.

'Well?' I asked, eager for news. Were we free or condemned?

'We found his body. Tried to chase the frigate but a warship's no match in speed against that thing. The ruins have sunk down into a stream of magma that was located a few kilometres below them. The blast had been that powerful.' the guard opened the cell. 'You are free to go, seeing how there's no case for connection between you and the gun after what you've told me.'

'Thank you for your understanding.' said Liara formally.

'Yeah, well... don't let that happened again.' shrugged the guard.

I noticed that he was the only one in the group who didn't have a Blue Suns logo on his armour. It was C-Sec blue and not Blue Suns blue. Maybe they were just inspired to have justice in the hardest to save parts of the galaxy.

Out of the guard tower we were free to roam the colony. I finally had a chance to take a look at my account. It had a little over eighty thousand credits. Wow. Where had father gotten that much money from. I checked to see if they were all from him. But there was a note attached to forty of those thousands.

"Blue Suns bounty fond offers: Numine Shin'ichi; a bounty for: Elimination of Jonathan D. Ericson. Thank you for your assitance."

'Huh.' I said, pleasantly surprised.

'What is it?'

'We got paid for getting rid of Jon.' I said, shrugging and showing Liara the message.

'Oh. They are quite generous with bounty it seems.' she said in an impressed voice.

'He might have simply been a big-shot.' I reasoned.

'I certainly hope not.' she shuddered.

'Why? Does it really matter? He's dead.'

'But if he was a big-shot he must have had a syndicate under him. His opposition might not care about us, but his supporters certainly will.'

I tried not to dwell on those facts. We were free from trouble for now and that's pretty much what I wanted at the moment.

'We'll cross that bridge when we get there.' I said, sounding certain.

'What bridge?'

Agh. And I'd thought that I'd get to sound cool for once.

'It means that we'll deal with it when we get there.' I explained, my ears red.

'Oh. I suppose that you are right.'

'So, as you've been here before... How about a tour? We could do with a hotel room that has a shower.' I sniffed the air. 'You were right. Hygiene is hard to maintain in this tact.'

'We don't need a hotel room.' she shook her head. 'With your skills I am sure that some work camp will let us stay the night.'

I looked at her in shock. And waste a perfectly good night on sleeping? No way.

'Let's treat ourselves.' I winked.

She seemed torn between wasting money and not wanting to sleep without blankets. Eventually she caved.

'Very well. But only for one night. Then we must leave before they come collecting the money we owe for the shuttle.'

That killed my good mood instantly.

'I wonder how our distraction worked.' I mused. 'Do you think that they realized that it was a hologram or did they really believe that we died? Because if they did, then Jon's supporters won't be coming to call.'

Liara's eyes widened.

'You are right. They believe that we are dead, seeing how we weren't pursued by the frigate into FTL. I should have seen that one.'

I felt smug at having avoided so many of the traps set for us, intentionally or not.

The hotel we chose was called The Silver Mist. Because it was standing on a depleted silver mine. Ironic and very fancy.

After a shower. And then another to get all the dirt off us. And then another because we could. After all those showers we decided to head out and explore the place. We were stuck here for another twenty four hours, so why not? Liara seemed to feel that staying at the hotel was safer until I pointed out that the only place our names were registered in was the hotel, which would make it the target for any bullet heading our way.

The colony was much like a city, with farms surrounding it. It was protected by a chemical cloud that neutralized the toxic rain before it fell. The environment suffered, but there was no other life on the planet aside from the turian colony, so there was no moral issue to deal with.

All of the shops contained turian technology, art, literature (even a Sun-Tzu, Art of War edition in turian) and food. There was little of other species aside from things that were from different asari colonies. The female turians were a lot smoother than the reptilian males, with a slightly more flourishing scalp and seemingly larger eyes, though I couldn't be too certain of that or if it simply was their generally smaller bodies. I couldn't get over how much they all looked like Garrus, both males and females.

'Can you tell the turians apart?' I whispered to Liara as we passed a group of them.

'Of course. But I suppose that, you having nothing in common with them, would have a harder time of it.'

I frowned.

'What do you have in common with them?' I couldn't see any resemblance between the turians and their asari mates.

'The spikes on the scalp, the colour, many of the insinuations used in dialogue, the body language. It's small things really, nothing that I can really give a description of.'

I tried to see it but... The asari were just so much like human that I couldn't agree with her.

It occurred to me then that love with asari must be the ultimate kind of love. Because when you fall in love with someone of your own species, it's often justified by being biologically correct. That is how we are supposed to be and how we are supposed to act. But when you break that tradition, when you choose to give your love to someone with whom you have no biological relationship then it can't be explained on a genetic level. It can only be described as – love. And this made my head spin so much that eventually I just put it out of my mind and forgot about it.

All in all, though rather rough and formal, the colony was a nice place to live. The turians didn't seem to like humans, but by letting Liara do all the talking I noticed that generally most of them were nice people.

And then we entered the plaza. Or the equivalent of one. In the centre of it were three turians, two females and one male, fighting each other while a large crowd of spectators cheered.

'What's going on?' I asked, starting to make my way towards them to end the fight.

'Calm down.' said Liara, laughing at my reaction. 'They are just sparring. It keeps them in shape.'

I looked in disbelief as a one of the women and the guy teamed up on the other woman and attacked from either side but were, in a flurry of arms and legs, knocked down to the ground. But she didn't stand for long either as the man knocked her down and started an assault on both of them. It was quickly cut off by a few jabs to his ribs and the women were now fighting it out. They were interrupted by the man who had done a kind of quick strike towards their ribs and they were all a flurry of arms and legs once again.

'They are going to kill each other!' I exclaimed in a worried voice.

'Turians are much harder than humans or asari. Their bones and their skin can endure a lot more than either of us could ever hope to survive.'

'But look! She just broke her arm!' I said, squinting towards them.

'No. It just bends that way.' said Liara, but she sounded far from sure. She was right thought because the turian returned to fighting, both arms whole, in no time.

The stress was too much for me to deal with. If either of the was hurt or killed...

'Let's go.' I said, leading Liara away.

'What's wrong, Min? You look pale.'

'It's... nothing. I just don't like fighting.' I said, swallowing. I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself.

Liara still frowned worriedly at me as we made our way towards the hotel. Once we were back we decided to plan our next step.

'You still haven't told me what you need my help with.' said Liara, curious.

I thought about it. Was now a good time to tell her? It didn't feel like that? What if I got her in trouble. What if we were captured and questioned? She could deny knowing about anything this way. But I wanted her to know. I needed someone to share it with. Someone who was near me. Someone who had been closer to me than anyone else. But I realized that I couldn't. Damn.

'I can't tell you everything, Liara.' I said and her face fell. 'Because, well... I don't think that it matters, but if it does, then not knowing is a lot safer.' I tired to explain.

'So you want me to enter the unknown? An unknown where we might or might not have to kill someone?'

'Ah... no, of course not. But it is a precaution against that which can hurt you the most.' I frowned. Was I making sense? No? Good.

'But what is it? Why is it so dangerous? Who exactly is the danger?'

I didn't know that one. And I told her so.

'I don't know, Liara. I am going almost as blind as you are. Which is why I want to go to Akuze. It think that we'll find answers there. And if we do, then I suppose I can tell you.'

'But you won't trust me now?' she was angry. I tried to come up with quick ending to the argument before it escalated.

'I want you to be safe. And... if what I am doing is a mistake, then I don't want you facing the consequences of my actions.' I said quietly. It worked. She was soothed.

She sat down next to me and hugged me tightly.

'I don't know what's going on Min, but I will be there for you every step of the way. I owe you that much.'

I nodded. Then I realized what she had said.

'Wait. How exactly do you owe me?'

'You helped me start up a prothean database, dig to it in less than two days and then saved me from looters. On top of that, you also payed my debts and... gave me companionship.'

I shut my eyes, thinking. Was she, in fact, indebted to me, or was it her natural masochism bubbling to the surface? The way I saw it, most of what had happened was my fault. The destruction of a prothean base hadn't been necessary if I had been able to prevent Jon from calling that stupid orbital strike.

'You owe me nothing.' I summarized. 'Or rather, I owe you just as much and I call it even.'

She opened her mouth to object but I cut her off by simply kissing her. It was nice, knowing that I could do this now. I recognized the taste of her lips from somewhere but couldn't quite put a finger on it. Aw, heck with it. We had a whole night to figure that out.


	7. Chapter 6

Thank you for reading, I really appreciate your interest in my story and I wouldn't mind if you wrote reviews on my stories (constructive or deconstructive criticism, both help me immensely. If there is anything in particular you would like to see happening in the story, please tell me and I will do my best to fit it in, seeing how my policy is to take requests.

Chapter 6: The captain and the super secret base of pure evil

I had another one of those dreams again. They spoke to me again, leaving only the faintest traces of sense behind

_A girl singing a song in words that have no meaning. Only the melody that attracts us. A philosopher, a wise man with no way to flee from the fire. A building of bones, built by the bones. Work of life and all of it lost now. A child gave hope. A girl singing a song in words that have no meaning. Lost in a chamber with no doors nor windows. The first and the last. It would be spread from us and the future would take the responsibility. The wise man. The singing girl. The Alliance. Akuze._

In the morning, the dream was too vague for me to remember the words.

The cruiser ACV Khan was an Alliance cruiser that was coloured in a most unorthodox manner. It was completely black, aside from the Alliance logo on the port side engine. And this is was also the ship taking us form Port Hanchan, corporate kind of place, to Akuze.

Liara and I had hitchhiked with a number of trader vessels to Port Hanchan where Garrus had told me that an Alliance ship I could trust (though I had no idea what he meant by that) was docked for repairs. And that had been our ticked on board. It had taken me a lot of haggling with the captain, captain Beckett Carter, to finally make him agree to allow Liara aboard.

And when I finally boarded, taking my place on the engine deck, which was a hell of a lot bigger than any of the merchant ships, I saw a very interesting notice.

'Liara. Look.' I pointed towards a chart on one of the displays. It was the display that controlled what was being shown in the mess hall displays. There were movies, music and stuff like that. But there was also information notices like "Noveria – Safest corporate world in the galaxy" or "Praise the Enkindlers".

One such notice said "The greatest young minds of Alliance space". My name was listed. More than that, it was listed on the top. With four hundred points. The nearest one to me had three hundred and eighty seven. I thought back to that stupid MENSA-like test. It had had ten questions per page. Forty pages in all. Sweet. I had the high-score on Alliance bookworms.

'I don't understand.' frowned Liara, looking at my name. 'What is this?'

'It was a sort of IQ test I did in the hospital to make sure that I wasn't mentally handicapped.'

Liara looked closer and the drew in a sharp breath.

'This is the Thessia Academy acceptance exam form from my school days.' she said, looking closer. 'Yes, it is the same one.'

'Really? How much did you get?' I asked, trying not to sound too smug.

'I got three hundred something. But I never went to Thessia Academy anyways. Why is this in Alliance databanks?'

I shrugged.

'Maybe they wanted to compare us to asari.' I guessed. 'They keep doing stupid stuff like that. I remember once when they had a survey on how our reaction times by firing bullets and then making notes on how fast we pressed the buttons. I think that I was amongst the bottom ten.' I winced at the memory. I'd shrieked with every shot, removing my hand from the button instead of pressing it. 'And then it turned out that it was a turian military pass test and that we'd scored less than the turian training camps and were nowhere near the turian military.'

Liara seemed shocked.

'I would have thought that you had good reflexes.' she mused.

'I do. I did, I flinched away every time. I just didn't much care for siting still and pressing a button while someone was shooting at me. Or, you know, close to me.'

She looked at me wonderingly.

'What?' I asked, unselfconscious.

'You really don't like violence.' she said softly. 'I wouldn't have thought that if I hadn't seen your reaction when the turians sparred.'

I thought about this. It wasn't that I didn't like violence. Well no, it was, but I just so saw many other ways to resolve a conflict that there didn't seem to be a point. And because I always felt guilty for hurting someone. That was probably my weak point. I couldn't stand up for myself if it meant that someone would get angry.

A few other engineers entered the engine deck and we exchanged greetings.

They were Martin Donnelly and Elisabeth Daniels. We shared a few polite words, they asked about what I and Liara were doing and why we wanted to go to Akuze again. I asked them in turn about their training and how they came to work on a ship.

'Why is the ship black?' asked Liara the first actual question I cared about.

'Oh, well...' said Martin in his very Scottish accent, '... that's because this is an intelligence ship. We cruise around planets and collect intel. And sometime pirates come to the same planets but with the common infrared scanners they won't detect the black hull. It is only detectable by heat seeking equipment that stuff, most pirates won't afford.'

I nodded. This was actually a good idea. I wondered why not every Alliance ship was black.

'Because colour makes an identity.' answered Elisabeth. 'I asked the same question when I was in engineer academy. If Alliance had a fleet of black ships then we would have been taken for dark and dangerous figures. And as we are already heavily distrusted from so many sides, that wouldn't be helpful at all.'

I had to agree that she was right. Psychology was as important as secrecy. For the politicians at any rate. I was certain that, when in battle, a soldier will always take the safe route and not the politically correct one.

'Well, either way, this is the biggest ship I've been on since I started my career.' said Liara, impressed.

'Your career?' asked Martin.

'I am an archeologist, a prothean expert.' she explained simply.

'That sounds interesting. But it can't be easy finding remains of someone who died out fifty thousand years ago.' he said, impressed.

'Trust me, it's not.' I grumbled.

'What do you do, Min?' asked Elisabeth.

'I...' did I have a job? No? Good. 'I just follow Liara around really. All the digging equipment is very technical, so...' I trailed off, not sure what to say.

'Sounds like an interesting way of life.' nodded Martin wisely.

'Too much so.' agreed Liara. 'Lately at any rate.'

'That sounds like a story.' said Elisabeth.

'Not that interesting.' I interfered before Liara could start on it.

'Well, it might make a good lunch story.' she shrugged.

'Have you done this?' asked Martin, gesturing to the young minds of Alliance notice.

The name on top was Numine and not Min and as most people failed to see the connection between the two, I wasn't really too concerned with the notice.

'Nope. But it looks really easy.' I shrugged.

'No way.' he shook his head, grinning. 'I did it and let me tell you, whoever got more than two hundred is a bleeding genius. I had no idea how to figure most of them out. The scores you see here are mainly asari.'

I took a closer look at the names. Maybe he was right, I couldn't tell really. There was Benezia on seventh place. Someone called Atheyta on third place but nothing else that looked really like asari. I guessed that maybe the fifteenth place; Aria, could also be an asari but Liara was far from sure about that.

'There's no point in trying to figure it out, we didn't get a single human in with the elites aside from the one on top. And as far as I know, she is just some savant.' Martin shook his head.

'Maybe it's time for the brass to give humans some space to learn and hone their skills before comparing us with other races.' said Elisabeth heatedly.

I couldn't have agreed more. I could clearly remember my confusion as I'd gotten the test. It still didn't make sense as to why they'd give it to me. Then I remembered something about that day. When I'd done the test, asari and salarians had been present. All of them, aside from one, had been interested in what my replies were. And the tight faces they wore after seeing my results... It didn't make sense. None of it.

I retold Liara of that day in whispers, as I didn't much like for the Alliance crew to know too much about me. I wondered if I was being paranoid. Yes? Good. If paranoid meant alive then it beat naive and dead.

'So asari were actually present when you did the test.' frowned Liara. 'I don't know what that could mean. To be fair, I don't much know about the test or the academy.'

After my investigations of Akuze were done with, I'd go and pay that academy a visit, I decided.

And now that I came to think of it, shouldn't they have made Jean do the same test?

As i got friendly with the core of the ship, it's engines and workings I found out that the two engineers were very good at their jobs. It was in flawless condition, aside from some kind of radiation interference that seemed to be causing circuit failures in spasmodic fashion within the core.

'I don't know what might be causing this.' admitted Martin. 'The radiation is very weak and shouldn't be having any effect at all on anything within the core. But...' he shrugged.

I frowned. Maybe it wasn't the radiation that messed with the circuits. Maybe whatever was messing with the circuits caused radiation.

'Can we get an overview of the whole engine?' I asked, looked at the readings. The seemed fine as far as I could tell.

'Sending them to you. You think it might be an obstruction?'

'I think that it might be a malfunction.' I replied, checking the engine scans. They were clean as well.

'We've tried shutting it down and starting it up again, but the problem's still there.' said Elisabeth tweaking the engine for me to get a better look at it.

'That's crude.' I chuckled.

'If it works, then...' shrugged Elisabeth.

'Well, it's not the engine.' I said, certain of that.

'I'm pretty sure it is.' Martin shook his head. 'It's coming from the left hand core power line regulation array.'

'The engine still runs, doesn't it?'

'Well yes, but it's glitchy.' nodded Elisabeth.

'Then it's not the engine. It's either something within the programing, maybe a virus, or the weapons have leaked some kind of toxin into the heat sinks.'

'I'll check the programing.' offered Elisabeth.

Martin sighed as if in defeat.

'And I'll go and climb the ducts.' he muttered.

And true enough, the weapons had overheated last time they were fired and, though they remained intact and operational, the coolant had burst open and leaked into the palladium contraptions that were placed just bellow the main gun and that were directly connected to the core of the ship.

'_Ah, blimey, this is a mop up job!_' groaned Martin into the com. '_Why can't we get mechs for this kind of tasks!_'

'Keep working, Martin. You're doing just fine. I'm sealing the contraptions.' smiled Elisabeth.

We heard grumbling through the com.

'Captain, we'll need new NSD seals and palladium contacts to replace the old ones. We've had a leak.' said Elisabeth into the com.

'_Where was the leak, Daniels?_'

'Our weapons overheated and coolant burst open. We're moping it up but we'll need new parts.'

'_What do you mean by _we_?_' asked Martin, affronted. '_I don't see you moping anything!_'

'I'm rerouting the circuits.' she replied calmly. 'Someone has to.' she winked at me.

'_Stop bickering. Is this something you need now?_' asked the captain.

'Preferably. Or maintenance will be a bitch... Sir.' replied Elisabeth.

'_Alright, I'll send someone to get what you need._' replied captain.

'Foof.' she shook her head. 'The pilot's going to be happy. He's been at our throats for days now. Says that it's hard enough to fly this thing without the constant fluctuations.'

I thought back to flying in an internally dismantled shuttle. The pilot had a point.

Liara and I stood about in the engine deck for a few more minutes, but as nothing else was required nor was anything else likely to happen we decided to look about the ship. It was a very stylish ship, I couldn't deny that. Comfort was emphasized in every corner of the ship. The mess had several tv monitors showing vids and news. A gaming console was placed in the med bay, surrounded by games and antibiotics. I tried to make the antibiotic joke for Liara now.

'For people with biotic issues we have antibiotics here.' I pointed. Liara frowned at me.

'How would antibiotics help?'

I decided to shut off the translator and explain the thing in salarian to her. It took a while but eventually she understood.

'I see. Who named the ability to control dark energy for biotics?'

I shrugged.

'I don't know. Maybe they didn't realize that it would have a counterpart when they came up with the name. Come to think of it... biotic is something that's alive.'

Liara thought this through. Here was a linguistic barrier that would be hard to overcome. I decided to do this at a later date. With more witnesses for help.

'So what do you hope to find on Akuze?' she asked me quietly.

'I don't know. To be honest...' I looked down, not sure how to phrase it. '... I don't really want to find anything.'

'What do you mean?' she asked, worried.

'Well... these last few weeks. They have been hectic. But they were still nice. I like being with you and spending our evenings talking about culture and history. I've never met anyone who knows so much about those two subjects.' I frowned, trying to put my hesitation into words. 'But I remember why I have to go to Akuze. I won't be... free until I have returned to see the place for myself.'

We were sitting at a table in the mess, only another group of marines were sitting further down from us and they were engrossed in their own conversation.

Liara took my hand and stroked my fingers gently.

'I am glad that you feel this way.' she said. 'I mean, that you enjoy spending time with me. I was worried that you'd think I was dull.'

Then something made her look up at me in a frown.

'What did you mean?'

'About what?' I asked, taken aback.

'You said that you didn't want to find anything on Akuze because you enjoy being with me. So... what will happen if you do find something?'

I thought. What could possibly be the worst I'd find? The Alliance had already been there to get the bodies so there were no more monsters. The worst I would find is something that leads me to the people responsible. But what would that mean for me and Liara? I wouldn't turn her down if she wanted to come along. But from there on, she would have to know all of it. Did it even matter if she knew or not? Was I really just being paranoid? I asked her this.

'I don't think that you are paranoid.' she conceded unwillingly. 'But you don't seem to know what you are doing.'

'Oh good. I was afraid that everything was going by a plan.'

'Would that have been bad?' she frowned.

'Yes. Because this would have been a rubbish plan.'

She laughed.

'I can rest assured now then.' she smiled. 'At least our transport is decent this time.'

This I had to agree with. It was a very luxurious ship.

A few minutes later the ship took off to our next destination, the engines back on full power and stability.

The captain came over to sit with us.

'So.' he said, looking at both of us shrewdly. 'Why exactly am I taking you two to Akuze?'

'Isn't there a don't ask, don't tell policy in the Alliance?' I asked hopefully.

'About sexuality and it only applies to Alliance, not freelancers.' he waved it away as if it wasn't important.

'I have unfinished business there.' I said simply.

'On a planet where hundreds of humans died from giant worms? Interesting business. Might be a bit... over your head.' he hinted.

'We're just having a look around.' I insisted. If I was honest with myself, there was no danger on Akuze. It was the rest of the galaxy that was dangerous. Maybe we could settle on Akuze? The image of the ruins and the waiting asari in the doorway came into my mind then and I had to shake my head in order not to lose it.

'Well, now that I'm taking you there I might as well go down with you to have a look.' he said, shrugging. I couldn't tell whether there was a motive behind this or if he was simply worried about us.

Garrus's assurance that I could trust this ship came to mind. Had he meant this? How much did Garrus know by now? I'd have to call him soon. I missed him.

'We would appreciate that.' said Liara.

The captain looked at her, indecision written all over his face. Then he looked at me as if to say something. Then he shook his head in a comical way and walked off.

'He seems like an honourable person.' said Liara, not having noticed the captains behaviour.

'He does.' I agreed. 'To whom though?'

'You don't trust him?'

'I do. A lot. More than I would trust other captains. That means nothing though when push comes to shove.'

'You want to... shove him?'

I blinked.

'No. I meant that... Never mind, it's just human pessimism.'

'Maybe you should try and see the good in every situation.'

I looked about the ship. The bathroom sign had the shower sign attached to it.

'I can see the good bit perfectly from here.' I nodded. Liara followed my gaze. She sniffed me.

'You are right.' she agreed.

'Hey!' I sniffed her. Nothing. Damn. 'How come you don't smell?' I complained. Though if you think about it, I was better off because I could live with my smell and not be bothered by any other one. She would have endure someone else's.

'I don't know. Anatomy and physiology isn't something I have studied overly much.' she shrugged.

'When's food time?' I asked the two cooks who were standing and talking casually.

'In an hour.' replied the female cook, smiling. 'You'll hear the bell.' she assured me. This was just such a nice place that I worried whether it was trying to lure me into a false sense of safety and then attack. That's it. I _am_ paranoid.

I spent most of the time in the engine deck, talking to Elisabeth and Martin about their job. Liara was sitting and sifting through the information we'd gotten on Regdov. Or trying to at the very least.

'The script is similar to the tidbits I've found over the years but it seems to be in a different dialect. And as I haven't managed to translate the first one...'

But that didn't stop her from trying. It didn't even come close to diminishing her enthusiasm. And by the time we went to bed, she had stacks of notes on every symbol we found. I was so tired that I fell asleep instantly.

_A hall full of people. A crowd of leaders, worshipping their martyr. A wise man, smiling at the wrong we made. The singing girl, forgave us for the crimes against our world. A man of metal. A million more to be pursued by cloaked wraiths. Speaks through the blood that was created for his pleasure alone. Begs for the master to be kind. The fire sees me. A man of metal. A wise man. A singing girl. _

I woke up with a start. Damn. These dreams and voices were really getting to me. I tried to remember what it all had been about. A kind of tool, maybe? It had made sense in the dream, but now... Was this from the prothean antenna? That beacon? I couldn't be sure, but that's what had started it.

'Liara.' I shook her gently.

'Mmm? Sweet.' she sat up, blinking dazedly. 'What is it?' she yawned.

'Remember that mind reading thing you did after I started up that prothean ruin?'

'Yes.'

'Can you do it again?'

She sat up to her full composure, alert now.

'What is wrong?'

'I've been having... vision-like dreams. They've been speaking to me.'

She looked alarmed.

'Ah... alright, just give me a moment.' she took a few deep breaths. Shook her head. Took a few more breaths.

'Embrace eternity.'

I wondered why she always said that. And then my mind was full of my dream again. But it wasn't that same, obvious feeling about it. Liara was struggling with every word and image, trying to keep them steady, to keep them from flowing out of reach before she could see them.

'Wait.' I halted her and felt pain in my head as the connection was broken.

'Ah. Don't do it like that.' she moan, clutching her head.

'I'm so sorry!' I gasped, massaging her shoulders. 'I didn't know.'

We sat in silence for a while.

'I'm fine. It's alright.' she huffed after a moment.

'Don't fight the images, just let them come. Seeing them in passing give more sense to them.'

She nodded.

'Embrace eternity!'

The same torrent of images and emotions, words and sounds started again. But there was more than just the dream. And now that I had a chance to review them, they didn't seem to be about... people. The words that whispered into my mind and the images I saw didn't have any seeming connection. It was all just random gibberish. Eventually Liara sighed and moved away.

'Well?' I asked looking sheepish.

'I don't know. It's hard to explain.' she thought for a moment. 'If I had to guess at what it was... I would say that it was encrypted.' she nodded to herself. 'If we assume that the protheans knew how to use technology to communicate mind to mind then it would make sense that they could encrypt the devices as well.' she seemed troubled.

'But what did that all mean?' I asked desperately.

'I think that the words are your own. Your mind is trying to explain what is going on. But it is explaining the wrong parts. As if it has access to everything but you can only see a small part of it.' she rubbed her temples. 'I can't tell you what it all was. It might have a meaning and it might not.'

I fell back on the bed with a thump.

'Are you alright?' asked someone from nearby.

Sharing the room with five other beds meant that privacy was difficult.

'Elisabeth?' I looked around. 'Yes, I'm fine. Just a headache.'

She looked suspiciously at Liara, then nodded and returned to her bed, turning pointedly away from us.

'What's the time?' asked Liara, yawning.

'It's... oh. We've only slept for three hours.' I grimaced. 'Sorry.'

Liara just shrugged and fell asleep almost instantly. I tried to do that as well, I really did my best, but I couldn't shut down again. Instead I lay and watch the slow rising and falling of Liara's chest.

Somehow, impossibly, this was all connected. The Alliance. And Akuze. And the prothean base. And what had happened on the Citadel. If anything had happened there. I tried to see the possible connections.

Akuze is an Alliance colony. And someone from that colony had survived. And gone to the Citadel.

I shook my head. That made no sense. Alright, let's try again.

The protheans died out fifty thousand years ago. The Citadel was made by the protheans. The Alliance has an embassy on the Citadel. And Akuze is an Alliance colony.

Alright, so that was all joined very neatly, but it still made no sense. How about the dreams then? Where would they fit? They would fit... with the doctor. He had told me that I might experience complications from keeping that thing in my brain. Was this it? Nightmares? I'd have to call and ask later. Or why not now? Oh yeah, I didn't know his number. I couldn't even remember his name. The hospital seemed to be a hundred years ago.

Let's try another round.

The Alliance wanted something from the prothean base. So they send pirates to retrieve it and the pirates happen to chance upon me and Liara. That was possible, if not plausible. The protheans might have been the ones releasing the thresher maws on Akuze. That was... stupid.

I tried, I really did. But I couldn't figure this out. The Alliance protected its colonies. Akuze has nothing to do with any of the other things. What had happened on the Citadel was because of Alliance. Or was it because of Akuze? Garrus had told me that someone had a grudge? Were they still at large? Was that what he had meant when he told me that this was a ship I could trust? He was certain that the people with the grudge weren't on this ship?

And then, there is the prothean base. In retrospect, it seemed so impossible that pirates would come to just the world were on, and to just the place on the world we were on. And how convenient that the people in command of the ship while their leader was on the planet didn't check too closely whether they would hit him or not. I hadn't questioned that until now. But what if there had been a mutiny? What if someone had been pulling strings? And what if the person pulling the strings was the same one who wanted me dead on the Citadel?

A thought, a revelation, struck me. What if the person who had tried to kill me on the Citadel was responsible for Akuze? It seemed so obvious now. It made perfect sense. And yet... it seemed very outlandish. And it raised more questions. Had Akuze been the target, or had I been the target? Or were they simply trying to remove all the evidence? But if so, then I wouldn't find anything on Akuze.

I rubbed my temples. I was just over thinking it. I'd go to Akuze and have a look around. And then I'd go to Earth and show Liara what Japan looks like. Yes, that would be my goal for the future. I'd become an archeologist, just like her. And we'll earn loads on the book on protheans that we'll write together. And then we'll make a sequel after we'd finished translating our findings. I relaxed on the bed and tried to fall asleep. There was nothing to worry about.

'Before we leave.' I said, tugging at Liara's sleeve. The captain had just left, telling us to suit up.

'Yes?'

'I don't know what we can expect to happen down there... A few pointers, alright?'

She frowned at me but nodded.

'If there are men with weapons, use biotics to hold the trigger. If there are bugs, use biotics to shut their mouths. If there are thresher maws, run towards the shuttle and don't look back.' I looked at her intently. She nodded. 'Good. I have to go and speak to the captain.'

I wasn't sure what we would meet. In my mind, I saw that nightmare again. And I expected to find an army of soldiers waiting for us. My imagination was too moody nowadays.

'Captain.' I called. He was preparing a handgun.

'Yes?' he asked without looking up.

'When we go down... If we meet someone. Just in case, do you have something that will make them pause before killing us?' I asked nervously.

He frowned at me.

'You expect someone to want to kill us?'

'I expect many things. I hope that nothing will happen.'

He shook his head in a way that suggested disbelief at my daring.

'Yeah. I've got something that is worth anyone's time.' he replied, pocketing something flat and black.

The shuttle ride was filled with tension, my tension.

'So this is Akuze.' mused the captain as the shuttle's door opened. 'It looks nothing like the leaflets say it does.'

I couldn't speak. The nightmare I'd had on Regdov returning in vivid and terrifying light. Though pathetically incompetent at sensing emotions, Liara seemed to realize my discomfort because she took my hand and put it to her cheek, stroking it.

'It's fine. It is behind you now. I could sense it before.' she whispered.

I didn't know what she meant but felt comforted nonetheless. I nodded and stepped out of the shuttle. I expected the ruins to bring forth more nightmares, but they didn't. These ruins weren't old gods that towered over me and who's shadow would suffocate life. These ruins were just... ruins. Overgrown with plants already, dusty and familiar in a sad way.

'I went to school there.' I pointed out the ruin across from our shuttle. 'Horrible place.'

'You didn't like school?'

'I _don't_ like school.'

Liara shook her head.

'With your skills, I thought that you must study a lot.' she said.

'Maybe that's why I don't like it.' I muttered.

We made our way through the rubble and the decomposing corpses of the thresher maws. Or, I say decomposing, really it was just dead worms. They didn't seem to rot. Maybe the radiation didn't allow it. Interesting. So by making yourself inaccessible to parasites, you could make your body look fresh after you die forever? Interesting indeed.

'These look fresh.' commented the captain as we passed really close by one of them.

'They are not decomposing.' nodded Liara. 'The radiation in this area must still be powerful enough to wipe out the parasites.'

I felt so smug I could almost sing about it. And then we reached the thing's head. It's eyes were open and empty. It struck me that the last thing it had experienced was confusion, anger, pain and then death. And before that, it had been buried somewhere underground in a lab. What a way to live. And what an end to a miserable life. I didn't want to be here. I wanted to turn around. It was hard to focus on why I had wanted to come here. What had I wanted to find? Nothing. I had simply needed this place as a reason to keep going.

The breath was knocked out of me as I realized that. I realized that this wasn't my home anymore. And I should have stayed at the Citadel with father. This had been stupid and rash. I was no different from any other dumb teenager out in the galaxy. Damn. I had been so sure that I was onto something.

I sank to my knees and just sat there, ignoring my company as they asked me whether I was alright and trying to make me hurry. They could leave without me, I didn't much care.

I looked up at the sun and it was brighter than what I used to remember it. Oh, right. The UV shield was down.

'Min.' Liara sat down next to me.

I wanted to tell her to give me some time but nothing came out. I was still.

'This must be hard for you.'

I felt amusement at that. Really? Must it? Shouldn't I have put this behind me? How long had passed since I was last here? I tried to count. Two months, give or take. Was that too short or too long? I couldn't tell.

'But I am here for you.' she continued in a soothing voice. 'Just tell me what this is about and I can help, I swear I can.'

I wanted to turn around and look at her but my head wouldn't budge. I was more or less a statue. Something in my mind forced me to get up. To move forward. I started walking, where I didn't know, but I was sure that I had a goal in mind. Liara and Becket followed me in silence. Well, Liara was silent, Becket was humming something. And we arrived at my house. It wasn't in ruins, like I'd seen it in my dream. It had a lot of bullet holes and dead bugs inside, but it was still standing. I entered the building, hoping that it wouldn't collapse on me. My guitar was still in the corner, untouched and unstrung for a while. A huge hole of melted plastic decorated our tv. A picture of father, mother and me stood on top of it. How very, very sad. I seemed to hear Jean's words in my head; _I just can't stand all this melodrama._ I smiled to myself. There was enough of that to last a lifetime.

'Nice place.' commented the captain with no real infliction. 'Yours?'

I nodded.

'Sorry about that.' he seemed embarrassed. 'But in my defence, I was in another solar system'

'I know. It's fine.' I muttered and felt Liara take my hand in support.

There were so many things I'd forgotten I owned. The "Black Flares" T-shirt was on the couch where I'd left it last. A "Mass Infect" poster on the wall of my room. The singer was a woman who dressed up as an asari with human hair while the guitarists and drummer were real asari, painted like humans. I like that band. I'd forgotten that I had two of their albums on my omni tool. I'd had to get around to listening to it later. Liara looked at the poster with raised eyebrows but said nothing.

My computer, full of half-finished programs, different games, different vids and songs. All that seemed so childish now. There was one game I really liked though and so I copied it onto my omni tool. "Blood Saga". It was a game based on asari superstition where you could be a turian, an asari or a salarian and fight your way through the game in different ways and with different resources.

A wave of regret washed over me as I took the house in. It was gone now. I couldn't go back to this life, even if I didn't have my stupid crusade. I just couldn't imagine living like I had done before the attack again. It wasn't dull, but there was no Liara in that future. And there would be no Garrus or explosions in it either.

Is that it then? Am I an adrenalin junkie? Could be. Or have I been ruined? That was likely. Or am I just a normal teenager with foolish romantic notions about justice? That was probably it.

I sighed. There was nothing left for me here. This wasn't my world any more, one way or another.

'We had better go.' I said finally as the reminiscence was done with. The captain dropped the guitar, looking innocent.

'It's been a while.' he shrugged.

I had thought through how to find this secret facility. Firstly; it would have to be somewhere that was conveniently close to the colony because I was certain that they wouldn't have pipes or electricity there on their own. If they'd had then we would have know about them.

The first place I thought of was the head research facility of the colony that lay to the east of the central colony. The Yard. My mother had wanted me to work there, along with all the rest of my class mates. Pfft.

We walked slowly though the colony, cautious of anything that moved. The walk wasn't that long, seeing how the colony wasn't exactly New York or Presidium.

As we turned the corner of a dull, grey and ruined building we saw the Yard. There was a finely mowed lawn with statues and fountains as decorations. There were benches and tables where people could just relax and enjoy the filtered sun. It took me a minute of hacking to open the gate to the Yard. It wasn't exactly hacking, all I did was to convince that door that I was human. It asked me about Liara but I ignored it and we all entered.

'I feel... Well it's a bit cold down here.' I shrugged. I'd been here once before but it didn't impress me much back then either.

'Where are we?' asked Liara, interestedly.

'This is the Yard.' I gestured around. 'A research facility of some kind. We might as well start here.'

I shook my head in disbelief.

'Start doing what?' asked Liara, nervously.

'Start looking for information about my mother's murderers.' I replied calmly.

We entered a huge, domed room with loads of equipment with numbers and calculations. We walked by some of the terminals, looking with only mild curiosity at them. And then I saw my mother's name. It was just a file on who she was but seeing her picture, her name, her occupation. It brought reality to me more than anything else could have done. More than what my ruined house could have done. Without really thinking about it I sat down on a chair and began crying. For my mother. Just like I should have done so long ago. What the hell have I been thinking? Why have I forgotten to mourn the most important person in my life? Had I turned into something like my father?

I could feel the reaction to my new actions in the room. Liara seemed nervous and sad at the same time as she gently patted me on the back, whispering words of comfort only a lover could. The captain had walked off into the distance, looking at some piece of equipment.

'I'm sorry.' I said between sobs. 'For being strange and for all the explosions and... and all the rest!'

I wanted her to understand that she owed me nothing. And that I wouldn't hold her if she wanted to go. I didn't want her to see me like this. I didn't want to be like this to begin with. I envied the captain as he strode around the place, calm as ever. If I had been a man, I wouldn't have these feelings, would I? Did men, in fact, have fewer emotions than women did? No, that would make no sense seeing how Liara was neither but still had the same range of emotions. Maybe the captain was just so composed. Or maybe, he had already grieved enough in his life.

Whatever the reason for his calm, I was certain that behaving like I was now, a human sponge, it was very unattractive and not really interesting. So I stopped crying. I wiped the tears away and stood up, rather shakily yes, but I was on my feet.

'I'm fine.' I smiled at Liara who was still hugging me.

'You lost your mother here. No one in this entire galaxy could ever blame you for crying.' she whispered, displaying an uncharacteristically good sense of psychology.

'I know, yeah. It's tragic and all the rest.' I shook my head.

And then I remembered something. Jean. How she had dealt with sorrow. She had seemed perfectly... fine. She'd joked and laughed and been very alive all the time. Was it catching up to her as well, or was I just pathetically weak?

A message was sent to my omni tool. I started at the noise.

'What?' asked Liara in alarm.

'I... got a message.' I frowned.

I opened it. What I saw didn't help my composure at all.

'_Darling... if you are seeing this then I am dead. Sorry about that._' said the recording of my mother. '_I want you to know that I love you really, really much. And that, if there's a way back from death, I'll try and find it, alright? So expect me back soon. But if I don't come back, as popular belief has it, then here are some things I never got around to telling you._'

I was holding hard onto Liara's arm, seeing this recording in what seemed to be a dream state.

'_First of all, I have, in fact, swum with a dolphin. Your father took me to Earth on our honeymoon. I say this because swimming with dolphins... is not as much fun as it sounds. Basically, they are fish that can drown you. Secondly... Well, I'm sure you know your flowers and bees by now, so I'll give you the short version: boys hump everything and they will say anything to get into your pants. So be careful. Thirdly: this does not mean that you can quit school, young lady! I want to know that, after I die, you will continue your education and become a proper woman. Or man, I don't care where you sexuality lies. But still proper. And... be kind to your father. He will need you, now that I am gone. I love you._'

I giggled a kind of horrified giggle. What? Why didn't I get this before now? Well no, that was obvious. But... I couldn't phrase my thoughts.

'Your mother seems like a kind person.' Liara whispered and I started.

'Yeah, she was. Is. Was. Well, she never stopped being kind, just stopped... being. For a while.'

I wasn't sure what my reaction should have been to the message, but now that I'd seen it and seen that mother had accepted that she couldn't live forever, I felt better. I wasn't happier, but I was stronger. I...

'What is it, Mark?' asked the captain.

I looked about to see him frowning .

'_An Alliance was ship has joined us. Apparently, Akuze is red-flagged, so they'll be keeping an eye out for monsters._' replied the pilot.

'How did they know we are on Akuze? Our files are classified.' asked the captain.

'_Do you seriously want me to ask them or do you just want a theory?_' asked the pilot, annoyed.

'Never mind then.' he looked up at us. 'If I were you, I'd hurry up and leave. Mourning can wait until you're on the ship.'

'We still haven't found anything.' I pointed out.

'Alright. What are you looking for?'

I thought. What I really was looking for was traces of people other than the colonists. I told him so.

'Interesting. And where would we find these traces?'

Where was that facility, exactly? They had told me that it was a secret facility and that it had been found inconveniently far away from the colony. So it would make sense if the Yard was connected to the facility through a tunnel. It would then make sense to go towards the recycling holds where it was easy and made sense to have a door or passage that connected the two places. It would probably be a false maintenance door. One that, as it's not mapped on the workers' schematics, never gets opened by the workers and one that no one else will dare to open. Has to be a radiation disposal or power cabinet. It would be easy to tell if it was a power cabinet, but more likely than not, it was a rad disposal. That would be harder to get right.

'Down there, to the left.' I pointed out the corridor that would eventually lead to the recycling holds.

'You sure?' he asked, raising his eyebrows. 'Not to the right or or any other of the million doors this place has?' he gestured around at the lack of any other doors in the room.

'Oh. Well then yes, I'm sure.' I nodded. Should have noticed the lack of options long ago really.

We started towards and through the doors, hurrying along the corridor for a reason I didn't understand.

'So... what is this about your mother's death that you want to know again?' persisted the captain.

'It is a long story.' I tried to evade.

'Good. I like long stories. I happen to like long women, long bottles and long journeys as well, so this is not out of character for me.'

I frowned. What a strange man.

'Can't we talk about it when we are in less of a hurry? And why are we in a hurry by the way?' I wasn't sure why but it felt as if it had something to do with the new Alliance ship.

'It's that Alliance ship.' said the captain, confirming my suspicion. 'No one in the Alliance aside from my superior ever knows where I am. And she's not likely to give other ships my coordinates on such a short notice without my requesting them.'

'I see. Can you confirm that?' asked Liara, even tenser than before.

'If I could, I would.' he shrugged. 'If I could, I'd be eating something really pleasant right now, like a... water melon.'

'But what is this ship doing here!' I asked, returning focus to task at hand.

'Ah... good question.' nodded the captain, rolling his eyes. 'If you want to ask, go ahead. I'm planning on being gone though, before they get some weird ideas.'

And then we entered the recycling holds. It was dirty and dusty. But it was intact. In here were about two dozen different doors. Some leading to cabinets and some to other corridors.

We passed all the doors with me checking for signs of anything unusual. Nothing. Then we passed all the doors with the captain shooting the locks of. This payed of much better. Our fifth door was a power unit door but instead of electric machinery there was just a thin metal wall. I checked for buttons or triggers. When I didn't find any the captain blew a hole in the metal with his gun. Crude, but it worked.

'Stop shooting things.' I said, eyeing the gun.

'And be deprived of my only fun? Why on earth, or on this planet, would I do that?' he asked innocently.

The hole in the metal led to an underground tunnel, much like a thresher maw tunnel, only oblong.

'You colonists are industrious, aren't you?' whistled the captain, entering the tunnel.

'Yes. And look where that got us.' I agreed dryly.

'Well I agree that this is a slight setback from your original plans, but still...' he stopped talking, seeing the expression on my face.

'Ah, are you sure that we are supposed to go this way?' asked Liara. 'It doesn't look like a... real route.'

'It's not supposed to be. This was a rouge facility on Akuze, one we didn't know off.'

'But... will it be safe there?'

'I think so. But that is why I wanted you to come.' I explained.

'Oh.' she straightened her back and broadened her shoulders. 'I will do my best to protect you then.'

The captain said nothing.

'_Captain? Another ship just dropped out of FTL._' said the pilot into the com.

'Alliance?'

'_It... is an Alliance design but their IDC isn't valid._' said the pilot in a voice that made it clear he was frowning.

'Strange.' mused the captain. 'What do they want?'

'_They say the same thing the first ship told us. They are back-up. Captain, unless we are about to get hit by a batarian fleet, they are full of... well, they're lying._'

'I know. We'll be back in fifteen.' said the captain.

We started running forward. I was out of breath in no time but no one slowed down. It felt like a race against time now and the tunnel didn't seem to want to end.

'Any idea how long this tunnel is?' asked the captain, drawing his gun again.

'No. But it makes sense for it to be about one to two miles long.' I replied, calculating quickly in my head.

'Shame. I was hoping to find out what happened to your mother.' he said pointedly.

And then the tunnel ended in a very disappointing nothing.

'Where's the, ah, air? I mean, the hole through which we continue to the secret base of evil?' frowned the captain.

'Well...' I looked up. There was a hatch. 'Oh, we're here.'

The captain shot the hatch and it flew upwards, making an awful lot of noise.

'There. I'll give you a leg-up.' he said, bracing himself.

After Liara and I were up we helped the captain through the hole.

It was another computerized room. What was different from the rooms in the Yard was the lack of negligence this place had suffered. It didn't look abandoned. It look as if it was on standby. But what was rather more urgent than the state of the room were the two armed turrets that were looking at us with red lights flashing. Red is never good.

I raised my hands, not sure whether it was a wasted movement. Liara blinked, saw the turrets and copied me. The captain failed to notice the turrets and wandered over to a computer with a lot of surveillance on it. The turret shot twice. Two warning shots.

'Bloody, bleeding son of a vorcha!' he shrieked in alarm and returned the fire.

As soon as he started shooting Liara threw herself towards him and took cover behind his body. At first it seemed like a very selfish and pointless thing to do. Then I noticed the biotic barrier that she cast around him as he continued shooting at the two turrets.

It was all over in two seconds. He shot down the turrets, Liara's barrier collapsed from the strain of protecting the captain and he doubled over in pain from the one single bullet that made it through Liara's barrier.

I stood frozen for a heartbeat and then moved over to the captain. He was shot in the right side of his chest, his breathing was off and I could hear the punctured lung.

'Ah... Liara, can you keep his lunge from collapsing with biotics?'

She frowned at him for a short few seconds. His breathing seemed to ease up a bit.

'Yes. But I... I can't see what I'm doing.' she said, shaking her head. 'I might kill him.'

I administered a dose of medi-gel. It wouldn't replace the lung tissue, but it would patch up the hole while the lung was regenerating. He gritted his teeth at the pain.

'Ah. Damn thing scared me to death.' he accused, frowning at the smoking turret.

'Yes, I was pretty worried by it as well. So I didn't attack it head on.' I muttered.

'Just took me by surprise.' he said with wide eyes. 'Well there's no point lying here, I might as well get up.'

'Are you sure? We'd better let your lun-...' began Liara.

'I've done this before. The patch will hold well enough for the trip back and more some.' he waved us both away. 'What bothers me is this entire place. Shouldn't it be abandoned? And who the devil sets turrets to guard a surveillance room?'

'They didn't want anyone coming in through this hatch.' I guessed.

'Really? I thought that this was their way of saying welcome.' he rolled his eyes.

I looked around the room again with fresh eyes. The surveillance showed us different parts of the new facility. What was more, it showed people walking about. I watched as a group of men lined up outside a door, guns at the ready. I frowned. It was rather odd behaviour. Were they training for something? Then the penny dropped. They were about to enter this room.

'Hold the door!' I shouted, pushing the table with computers towards the door.

Without questioning my behaviour they started barricading it.

'You know-' said the captain, breathing heavily. 'I occurs to me that, as we are locking ourselves in, our trip to this jaunt has been utterly pointless.'

But he was wrong. I looked at the surveillance screens again. True enough, I saw a kind of symbol on the armed men's armours. It was an orange kind of cow-horns thing. And then I saw them start to shoot at the door. Here's the thing about barricades; they only work if they can actually keep something you want to be kept away at a distance. If, like in our case, they were only a hindrance for us and no hindrance for the bullets, the barricade becomes not only a waste of time but also a danger.

'Any good ideas?' shouted the captain in the midst of the shooting.

'Yes!' I shouted in reply.

'Any ideas that might save us?'

'No! But it's worth a try!'

'Deal.'

As the door was torn of its hinges, and the men started shouting at us to get up and they wouldn't hurt us I complied instantly.

'That's not a good plan!' hissed the captain.

I wasn't too concerned. We had three Alliance ships in the orbit. No matter their reason for being here I was certain that they would give these people a pause.

'Don't shoot.' I said, my palms held up in a universal sign of "I'm not going to kill any of you just yet."

'Who are you?' asked one of the men. He looked just like the rest but I had to assume that he was in charge of this pack.

'I am just an archeologist.' I said, kicking Liara to get up. 'And I'd gotten a tip-off that there were prothean ruins here.'

'That's right.' said Liara, getting up and catching on to what I was saying.

'There are is one Alliance vessel and one unknown vessel orbiting this planet. Explain yourself.'

'Ah, well one of them is mine.' said the captain, getting up as well. His hands weren't nearly as peacemaking as mine were.

'Drop your weapon!' said the man who had addressed me. 'I give you to the count of three!'

'You won't be breathing by two.' replied the captain.

Oh crap.

'Ah, wait! There's no need for fighting and shooting and whatnot.' I said trying to lower the captains arms.

'And get captured by this lot?' he said, raising his eyebrows.

I stared at him very intently for a very long time. The tension was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. But maybe a knife was the wrong thing to produce at the moment.

'Fine.' he surrendered after a moment. I heard Liara let out her breath. 'Don't agree with her!' said the captain affronted.

'Now you all come with me.' said the leader of the pack, moving all the tables away from the doorway. 'I promise not to hurt you if you cooperate.'

Liara nodded in a dignified way. I nodded in a sheepish way. The captain gave him the finger.

'Carter.' I hissed.

'Becket.' he replied. 'I don't like Carter.'

'Becket, then!'

'What?'

'I'll get us out. Trust me.'

He mold this over and decided not to trust me. He just didn't warn me. As soon as we were out of the room he knocked down one of the men and took him hostage.

'Now, gentlemen!' he said in a loud and clear voice, pointing the man's rifle at the man's head. 'Release my company and we will be out of here without any more trouble! Try to follow us and this kid dies. Simple, right?'

The guards didn't like that. None of them lowered their weapon and I could almost see the man who was taken hostage praying in his mind. Then something tugged at me hard and I felt cold metal press against my head. I froze.

'That's not how it's gonna happen.' said the man holding me. 'You're going to follow us whether you like it or not. And if we feel that you deserve to live, you might, some day, leave this place. If not-...'

'What is going on?' asked a female voice. It sounded angry.

'Intruders, mam. They got in through the techie tunnels.' replied the man holding me.

'Let me see them.' she said in a calm voice.

Ignoring the captain completely he turned me around to face the woman. I saw Liara being turned too.

The woman looked at me with wide eyes and I could see a smile trying to break free.

'What's your name, girl?' she asked me. Her bespectacled eyes scrutinized me carefully as if she was measuring and weighing me.

'Anna. Anna Tomoda.' I said, thinking of the first combination of name and surname I could think of.

She nodded, smiling to herself as if I'd confirmed something.

'And you?' she addressed Liara.

'I am Liara T'Soni, daughter of Benezia T'Soni. She is a very powerful and influential asari and killing me will be the last thing you ever do.' warned Liara in a slightly panicked voice. Her body language revealed more stress than her voice did.

'And you? Cowboy?' she asked of the captain.

'I am John Shepard. An Alliance marine.' he threw at her.

The name made me look around, but the man holding me turned my head back to the woman.

She smiled a wide and dangerous smile.

'Oh really? Well then. If you are who you say you are then I will let you all go. But if you have lied to me is some way...' she left the threat hang in the air, looking at us with raised eyebrows. Then she raised her hand to her com and listened intently.

'Sorry, lady but I've got no time for this. We really have to-...' began the captain in a mocking voice. She cut him off.

'I wasn't asking you to do anything. I am telling you to come with me and we'll sort this out. Or I'll have all of you shot now.' but she was still listening to whatever was being said. Eventually she nodded in annoyance.

The captain seemed to finally realize that there was no way to win this one and released his hostage, sighing sadly.

'Well then, shall we-...' two men took him firmly by his upper arms and we were all led away.

'_Captain, we're being boarded by one of the ships._' I heard the com say.

'Martin, fire.' said the woman into her com.

At first I didn't see the connection between the two sentences. But then;

'_Ah... and now the other ship is firing at the first one._' said the confused pilot. '_Can you... bring me up to speed? Or am I a sitting duck?_'

'Who are you?' asked the captain, his com unit having been taken from him before he could reply.

'I am your best friend.' she said, addressing me.

'I hope not. Or I dread to meet my foes.' shivered the captain.

'Just come along.' she rolled her eyes.

This was a very strange place. What was going on? If anything was going on at all. As we were walking an old man with a short, white beard joined us.

'The asari complicates things.' he said.

'Don't worry. I know what to do.' replied the woman.

'If she is who she says she is though...'

'I know. It doesn't matter. The Illusive man isn't interested in anyone but the survivors.'

The old man sighed irritably.

'What does he want with them exactly? Why does he expect to find some abnormality in them?'

'He thinks that, in spite of going against direct orders, Marlin did something right.' she shrugged.

Min tried to figure out what was going on but the details were hazy at best. Survivors must be she and Jean. Was she here too? No, she hadn't gone off to seek out her own capture like Min had.

'Min, does this makes sense to you?' asked Liara so quietly that only Min could hear.

'No. But they haven't killed us yet so I don't see why they would. That's one break we get.'

'More importantly, what's happening to my ship?' added the captain in a whisper.

'I think that we're about to find out.' I replied.

'Stop hissing. Plotting won't do you any good here.' said the woman, cutting our finished conversation short. 'We are not your enemies. Yet. My name is Joeanne Meila and I am a Cerberus commander. The Cerberus are-...'

'I know who you are.' said the Becket in a musing voice. 'You are a kind of terrorist group, aren't you? You are the ones who do weird experiments.'

I payed close attention. Was I really this lucky? To find the people responsible for my mothers death on the first attempt?

'We are a human-centred organization. A branch of the Alliance, whether they like it or not, and the response to alien organizations such as the salarians' special task group.'

'Yes. Doing weird experiments.' finished the captain.

'I won't debate this with you. The Illusive man will speak to you in person. I am sure that he has quite a speech prepared.' she said coldly.

'Wait. But why am I here?' asked Liara and I could hear that she was, unwillingly, frightened.

'Yes, why _did_ you come here?' asked the old man. 'It's odd to see asari visiting human colonies. Especially colonies that were decimated by thresher maws.'

'I guess that you didn't buy that archaeology excuse.' I muttered.

'We know you well enough, Numine, to recognize you. No matter how much you change in appearance.' replied the woman.

We had arrived at a door. It was a normal door. Just like any other in the facility. But there was a sense of finality and duty associated with standing outside the door. I was certain that, whoever the Illusive man was, he'd be in there. The door opened. The room was white, round and empty. Alright. No Illusive man.

'Please step onto the disc.' said the woman, gesturing towards a black, glossy disc on the floor. It covered most of the floor.

We. all attempted to take a step forward.

'Just miss Shin'ichi.' added the woman and Liara and Becket were restrained. The captain wasn't happy about it.

'I have a few words for the Illusive man.' he complained.

'And they can be delivered to me. He has no interest in you, captain Becket Carter.' she smiled.

'How did you know?'

'We have... met.' she said in a round-about way. Much like saying; we are both breathing.

'Riiight.' he shook his head. And then he and Liara were dragged out of the room. The woman looked at me sternly for a few seconds and then left. I was alone. Stupid of them really, to leave me on my own like this. I could do anything. I started plotting. But I didn't get far before the black disc shone and I was surrounded by a holographic room. It was exactly the same as the real room, only it seemed bigger and in the centre sat a man.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Alfa & Omega

I knew that the two girls were trouble before I let them on board. If I had any idea that I would be pitted against the Cerberus again I would have shot them out the air-lock without a second thought. But I'd told them that I would help. Damn it. Being a pirate had been much easier than being an Alliance navigator.

The men holding onto me were doing two basic mistakes. One, they were focused on my torso and forgot that, if I kicked one of them between the legs, that man would fall. The second one was that they allowed me to make eye-contact with the asari. When I'd first met her I thought that she was trying to take advantage of the human girl. Some kind of seduction pheromone at work. But I see now that it goes deeper. For both of them. And I also happen to see that, though she is a bit slow on the uptakes, she isn't thick. Eye-contact would be enough for us to communicate.

She seemed to be panicking but, and the but was substantial, she also seemed vaguely too intent on the face of the Cerberus woman too be in genuine panic. She was faking. It seems that she was quick enough to know how to weaken the opposition.

But what would I gain from fighting these men? A favour from one of the most powerful organizations in the galaxy.

I winked to Liara. She raised her eyebrows a fraction. A "Yes, what did you have in mind?" reply. I rolled my head slightly to indicate the room. She shook her head "No, I can't make a barrier around them all." I looked pointedly at the weapon in her holster. She frowned for a second and the nodded slightly.

So we had a kind of a plan. She would stop the guns from firing with her mind while I took the men out. I hoped fervently that my aikido training from my college days was still in my muscles, because otherwise I'd be no match for these bulky individuals.

I tapped my foot once. She closed her eyes, concentrating. I tapped my foot a second time. The Cerberus woman frowned at us. I tapped my foot a third time and kicked the man holding onto my left arm between the legs, spinning in the same motion around and hitting the man holding onto my right arm with my left elbow. Three of the men had drawn their weapons. Nothing happened. I could see a slight shimmer around the triggers. Good thinking.

The first of the three men was knocked by his own weapon as I bent his elbow and smashed the gun into his head. The second one was winded by a strike to the diaphragm and the third kicked me painfully in the ribs, missing the diaphragm.

I took my gun from one of the men and pointed it at the Cerberus commander.

'Take it easy.' she said, raising her hand in a defensive and pacifying manner. 'We never meant to hurt you.'

'I know. Which gives me a very handy advantage.' I smiled, trying not to show her that I was dying from lack of oxygen. That much movement at once was bad for me. I haven't move much at all this last month.

Liara knocked the two men standing, down with her biotics. I noticed that she was looking very pale. Maybe too much biotic usage at once?

'You won't get out of here without my permission.' said the commander.

'I know. Let's make a deal.' I grinned broadly. I knew just how maddening that was and revelled in the reactions I got from it.

'A... deal?' she said coldly. 'What would I want from you?'

I pretended to think about it.

'This.' I pulled out a data chip from my inner pocket. 'Or rather, the information that's on the chip.'

She frowned, not seeming to understand. It took her a moment and then her eyes widened.

'What is this rubbish?' she asked annoyed.

'This is the grass-snake incident.' I said, shaking the chip tantalizingly before her.

'The... the Alliance discovery? Buried under the ground on some planet where massive energy radiation distorted their equipment with the power of a nuke while dormant?' she looked at me in disbelief.

'The ancient weapon? Assumed to have been created by the protheans? I've never heard of it before. But even if I had... why would you ever want the information?'

She looked at the data chip. She looked at the unconscious soldiers. At the old professor standing and looking mildly curious. The solution was simple. Let us go, give me my ship back and keep the billion credits worth of information.

'I could call more guards and take it from you with force.' she pointed out.

'Go ahead. And then good luck with trying to figure out the passwords. There are more than one and the encryption is in a language your medieval computers won't recognize without a reference.'

That wasn't fully a lie but not the whole truth either. I had no idea how it was encrypted. I only knew the passwords required to access the info. A blunder made by the Alliance brass.

But the way I had said it made the woman certain that I was telling the truth.

'And what do you want for this information?' she asked, still cold.

'That war ship. The third one. It's Cerberus, isn't it? Alliance styled and no useful ID codes. Am I right?'

She nodded.

'It won't follow us when we leave. I want information on all that's been going on in this base and I want safe passage out of here.'

This was exactly what she had been expecting but pretended to haggle.

'This is a high price for a tiny piece of information.' she raised one eyebrow.

'If you don't want it...' I said, putting the info back into my pocket. I could see it in her eyes, how she wanted the info. Clearly her department was under a lot of fire from the Illusive man. Old git.

'Alright, fine. Hand over the information and the passwords and I'll give you access to all the information, the exit and call off the war ship.'

While the captain was bartering with the commander, I was stuck in a hologram with a man who seemed to be around forty years of age. He had an extravagant suit, a glass of bourbon and a cigar. And his eyes were... interesting. They had a circle around the irises that shone in the dark.

'Welcome, Numine. Or Min, as you prefer to be called.' he said to me, bowing his head.

I said nothing, entranced by his eyes.

'You are wondering, I am sure, who I am and what I want.'

I nodded.

'I am the Illusive man. Leader, if you will, of Cerberus. We are a pro-human organization and we do everything in our power to extend the power of humanity to all the borders of the galaxy and strengthen it.'

I nodded. Everyone did this. Not for human benefit, obviously, but every government had such an organization.

'And with the amount of people working for me, sometimes I allow things to slip past the net.' he looked sad for a moment. 'I am sorry to say that my people were behind what had happened on your colony.'

I knew it.

'You...' I tried to come up with a good insult. 'You evil man! How could just let a colony be devoured like that! Did ever even think about the damage your actions will have on the people, their lives and their work? Oh, wait! They are all dead! They are all, fucking, dead! And it's because of you!'

I continued in much the same way for a minute or so. Then I realized that there was no way for me to actually hurt him, seeing how he was a hologram and so I shut up to listen to his excuses.

'Not a day has gone by without me regretting what happened on the colony. All reports I received told me that the tests were purely lab-restricted and that no test-subjects were full-grown yet. Had I known that they were thresher maws I would have stopped this work at once. I am well aware of the risks of dealing with such creatures. And I can assure you that the agent in question will be punished appropriately by Alliance law.'

I could smell the lies through the hologram. The only truthful part had been when he said that he knew how dangerous they were and that the agent responsible would be punished. He seemed to relish that idea.

'Right. You must think that I am really stupid, don't you? Coming in here and acting as if I can change anything. But here's the thing; you have no power over me. I have no doubt in my mind that when I leave this room, the guards will be down and I'll be on my way back to the Khan. I will find you. And I will make you regret that you ever showed your face to me.'

He was silent for a moment, considering.

'Do you know who is out to kill you this very moment? Who attacked the Khan? Who Garrus had been hiding you from?'

I blinked. Not Cerberus then. And I couldn't see any traces of lie in the man. Was he a good liar or was he telling the truth?

'Who?' I asked grudgingly.

'Mr Toboe. The man on the Alliance board. The "right hand" of the ambassador.'

This surprised me more than anything. He had looked like a nice enough person. If I had to guess at any one person who would have wanted me dead I would have chosen Udina.

'Mr... Toboe?'

'Yes. He is frightened of what the Cerberus might accomplish. He wants to remove all influence we might or might not possess. And that means our test-subjects.'

I let that comment slide.

'I don't get it. What does he think I am?'

'You did a test on intelligence in the hospital and very unfortunately for you, you topped even the brightest asari minds. We know for a fact that this is your natural intelligence and are eager to help you with expanding your horizons, should you ask for our help. But mr Toboe thinks that we have somehow manipulated your brain. That we are, in fact, controlling you. And, to be fair, that is a likely scenario. There are too many unknowns about you, Numine.' he breathed in the smoke from his cigar.

'That... is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.' I shook my head. 'He thinks that you are controlling me? Then why not just put a spy on me for a few weeks to make sure?'

'The fact that you received help from the C-Sec and Cerberus almost instantly convinced the Alliance of your allegiance towards us. And they deem you a massive security threat. Aside from knowing things they'd rather you didn't, you also posses the highest measured intelligence in the galaxy as we know it.'

I raised my hand before he could continue, letting that piece of information get to my head.

'Huh. Ah... What do you mean by _Cerberus_ helping me? When did that happen?'

'We sent an agent to trail you wherever you went. But your friend Garrus happens to be her match in covert operations. We knew that you were well hidden when, in spite of our best efforts, even we could not find you. Aside from that, doctor Weglar is a Cerberus employee. One of the few who publicly supports us.'

'That woman...' I frowned, trying to remember. I'd been afraid that she would find me. Had she really been trying to protect me or was he lying?

'Yes.' nodded the Illusive man. 'And now you are here. And -...'

'What do you mean by I know things they'd rather I didn't know?' I interrupted again. I had to give it to him, he took my tantrum in stride.

'Ah. If I knew, then there would be no reason for the Alliance not wanting you to know them.' he smiled at that convoluted logic. But he was right on that part.

I had to sit down on the floor and think. Really think.

'It seems as if captain Carter has been granted safe passage out of this facility.' said the Illusive man, amused.

'See you.' I said, as the door opened and Liara and the captain stepped in.

'We have to hurry.' said the stern woman. 'Not all our agents are to be trusted.' but she kept her composure.

'What happened?' I asked in a whisper as we were led out of the facility.

'You owe really big.' replied the captain simply.

Liara shook her head in a confused sort of way.

'I don't understand it.' she replied. 'It had something to do about information.'

'Speaking of which...' said the captain, pressing a few buttons on his omni tool. 'You have access to my Cerberus data base. Take as much as the omni tool can carry. I'm deleting it afterwards.'

'Cerberus... how did you get this?'

'A fair exchange.' he growled.

I started taking out bits of information that I thought were relevant to what I wanted. I had to compress the information to ridiculous sizes in order for the bits to fit. The unpacking would take days.

We were hurried to our shuttle and within a hectic minute or two we were on the Khan.

'Take us out of here.' said the captain to no one in particular as we entered the ship's cockpit.

'Aye, aye sir.' replied the pilot readily. 'Where to?'

'Away from here. Somewhere on the Verge, away from planets. I need to think. And shut down all wireless communications, transmitters and sensors. Blind us completely.'

The pilot frowned but complied.

'You two, come with me.'

Now I was scared. What had he exchanged for our departure exactly? What did he want from us now? I shuddered, imagining being a slave and working in some batarian mine.

We entered the captain's quarters, which were very comfortable with a lot of cushioning. The captain gestured towards the table around which stood four chairs.

We all sat down and then the staring game started. I looked curiously at both the captain and Liara, trying to figure out what they had done. Liara was looking about the room in a rather calm way. The captain was glaring at me and Liara.

'I like your decorations.' said Liara, pointing towards a few wooden, craved statues.

He looked around to see what she was talking about.

'Ah yes. That particular one has quite a story to tell. And so do you. What, exactly, is going on? And before you say that I have no right to know, keep in mind-...' we entered FTL, making his pause for a second '... that I can throw you out of the ship at any moment with no regrets.'

I nodded. I was ready with the full story.

'I was planning on telling everything to Liara, but seeing how we wouldn't have managed without your assistance, you should know as well.'

'Well?'

I took a deep breath.

'I will start from the beginning, so bear with me.' the captain nodded impatiently and I continued. 'When I first woke up in the hospital on the Citadel I thought that things seemed odd. The doctors were acting in a strange way. And I only now found out that the only reason I am still alive is because my doctor was employed by Cerberus. If the Alliance had had a hand in my medicating I don't think...' I had to stop there and gather my thoughts. 'A C-Sec officer told me that I was in danger. That someone was holding a grudge against me surviving Akuze. And at first it seemed as though whoever was responsible for Akuze was after me. And when my father told me about how he had... left me and mother I decided to leave home, ending up with Garrus, the C-Sec officer. I spent about a week in a safe house with no Alliance ships wanting to take me on as an engineer, eating sushi and noodles. Then, on my way to the ship where Liara and I met I was attacked by Alliance soldiers. Or, I think that I was attacked by them. I don't really know what happened.' I looked at the two of them. They didn't seem to understand the problem. 'I wanted to find out who was responsible for Akuze. But more than that, I wanted to find out who wanted me dead.'

'And?' asked the captain.

'It is one of the Alliance board members. Mr Toboe.'

The captain surprised us both by laughing loudly. He did this for a very long time. Clearly he and Toboe had a past.

'He's on the board?' asked the captain between sobs of laughter.

'Yes...' I nodded, not being able to resist smiling.

Liara looked very confused, as if she had missed something.

'Oh dear me.' sighed the captain as the laughter died down. 'If that idiot is on the board then my mother was right. Humanity is going down the drain with all this politics.'

'You know him?' I prompted.

'Sure do. He was the one who sent me to the Purgatory.' the captain nodded.

Liara gasped.

'What? What is the Purgatory? A mental institution?'

The captain blinked at me.

'Do I look like I need that?' he asked.

'Ah...' I didn't answer. I couldn't be sure.

'Never mind. No, it's a high-security prison. The meanest sons of bitches live there, all under one roof. And the Warden is the meanest of them all.'

'Wait. You were in a prison?' I asked, worry accidentally slipping into my voice.

'Well, that's what you get for...' he frowned at me. 'Fine. I'll tell you the story.'

Liara and I sat up to listen closely.

'Seven years ago I got my ship, Khan. Not this one, my ship was grand and powerful and faster than any Alliance make ship. And I used that advantage for pirating purposes.' he rolled his eyes as Liara gasped again.

'You were a pirate?' she said in an outrage.

'Not were. Am.' corrected the man as if he thought that would improve anything.

'And... you work for the Alliance?' I had to spell this out, it sounded too amazing to be kept quiet.

'Just listen.' he rolled his eyes, head and hands. 'I did well from the pirating, robbing batarian colonies, bits of Omega. I even married a powerful matriarch. Too much drinking on Omega does that to you. But one day, two years back, my base of operations was hit by a group of Alliance marines led by some crazy woman. Shepard was her name.'

It was my turn to laugh. This was too unbelievable. What were the odds that this man was one of the pirates Shepard had told me that she had captured when she had worked with my father. The only reason I believed the man was because he couldn't have know that Jean had told me about this.

'What? Women can be called Shepard if it's a surname.' grumbled the captain, misunderstanding my reaction.

'That's not it. Shepard is Jean. The one marine who survived Akuze.'

Both Liara and the captain sat very still, pondering this interesting piece of information.

'That hag refuses to die.' said the captain finally. 'At any rate, I was brought before the Alliance and they gave me seven years. That was overruled by Toboe. He wanted to send me away to the Purgatory. And they did. Worst year of my life. But then the ambassador got wind of the case and bought me out. I wasn't that particularly valuable it seems.' he shrugged. 'And then I applied for a job on a ship, hopping that it would be my old Khan. It wasn't. It was a tiny thing, with only a main gun and no boosters, no shredders, no callers, no widows, nothing. A puny thing. So I decided that maybe... Alliance wasn't the job for me. I decided to return to my pirating ways. But for that I needed information. And the easiest way to get information is by doing mistakes. So I became a navigator, constantly taking us to weird places until one day I got a piece of news that would ruin my captains career if I let it slip to the brass. Well, he thundered about and shouted at me, but there was nothing he could do. The man resigned and I got his ship. That was six months ago. I was called in before the board again because one did not inherit ships. And that was when I used the ace up my sleeve. I told them that I would round up all the pirating gangs in Citadel space if they just gave me a ship and crew. They believed me as I had tricked them twice already. And it was a matter of good haggling after that.'

'Wait. Even if they bought you out of that high security place, wouldn't they just have made you serve the seven years in an Alliance prison?' I pointed out.

'Ah. I got off on a technicality when the state agreed to one hearing.' he shrugged.

This man was a huge fraud. Nothing about him was real. I knew that I should be frightened, but all I felt was respect. He had managed to wriggle out of really difficult situations in his time. This was someone who knew how to get the authorities off balance, that's for sure.

'Wow.' I said, impressed.

'But are you honouring your promise? Are you rounding up the pirates?' asked Liara in a firm voice.

'That's how I got my ship damaged. Yes, I'm taking out all the trash. I was planning to return to my old ways, but the security is too heavy and... I quite like hunting pirates.' he shrugged.

I spoke before Liara could.

'Your intentions might not be good, but you actions are.'

Liara thought for a seconds and then nodded.

'Your turn.' said the captain, turning to Liara.

'Wha..?' she asked, confused.

'Your story. We had Min's and mine. Now what's your story? Or you can't join our club.'

I rubbed my eyes. He might be a good con man but he was lousy at jokes.

'You are the embodiment of bad jokes.' I said to him.

'Really? Good. I was afraid it might be cancer.' he said calmly.

I closed my eyes and prayed for patience as Liara sniggered.

'What story is it that you would like to hear?' she asked.

'I've met your father.' said the captain calmly. 'I'm on her hit list. And what is her girl doing with a social outcast such as Min?'

I glared at him but Liara jumped in surprise.

'You... how do you know who my father is?' she stammered, scared and excited by the prospect of finding out who it could be. I hadn't realized that she didn't know her father.

'You look a lot like her.' he shrugged. 'And I saw your picture when I was sneaking in to rob her apartment. I don't know why that picture got stuck in my mind, and I didn't remember until a while ago actually. But I am sure that it was you.'

She looked at him, open-mouthed for a long while and I patted her gently on the back, doing my best to give her comfort from my vantage point.

'I can't believe this.' she whispered. 'But where is she? Who is she?'

'She's a... Don't remember her name. I wasn't that attentive about whom I robbed. But she is on the Millenium Unia board. I think that that's the asari equivalent of our Alliance.' Liara nodded. 'Yes well, five years ago she was the Colrua representative, doing some odd jobs for the board. I was on Ilium as well, doing some odd jobs to raise funds for a really big raid on a batarian pirate gang. And I got a tip that there was a more effective way to get creds. I would sneak into the hotel disguised as a maid. Man maid, stop sniggering. And then I would take as much credits I could manage from the credits they have to pre-pay into the mini bars. I got fifteen thousand credits that night and a... farewell gift during which I saw your picture.'

I frowned into space, trying to imagine it.

'Alright, it sounds worse when I say it like that. It wasn't weird or anything. It was just there, on a shelf. And I couldn't help looking.'

Liara shook her head. She seemed to be trying to decide whether to laugh or cry.

'What does this mean?' she asked me in a whisper.

'What?'

'I... does that mean...' she sighed. 'Here is my story, I guess.'

The captain and I exchanged glances. I tried to make mine annoyed, he looked very excited.

'My mother is a powerful matriarch who's words weigh heavily with any asari board and with the Council itself. Amongst my people being the offspring of two asari is a... taboo. Being a "pureblood", though no one will dare say that to another asari for it is a grave insult, is frowned upon and people generally treat you like a second class citizen. So my mother never told anyone about my father. She told me, and a few odd facts about her, but that was it. She wanted me to follow in her footsteps, to become a great leader and diplomat, which is one of the reasons for me leaving. And I cannot help but wonder; did my father leave me for the same reasons my mother keeps it a secret or because she was embarrassed by such a union?'

I understood how Liara must feel.

'If she kept a picture of you...' I said softly, 'then she was thinking of what's best for you when she left. I don't think that she was embarrassed.'

She nodded and giggled in a hysteric sort of way.

'Trust me. This one wasn't the type of person to be embarrassed.' assured her the captain, looking almost sympathetic.

'Should I visit her? You said that she was on Illium?'

The captain nodded.

'On the Nessus Astra port. But I think that she lives somewhere on Nos Astra.'

'Min?' she looked at me for an answer to her first question.

I had to think. I really had to think about this. It all depended on what Liara wanted out of the meeting to begin with, really.

'What do you want from her, though?' I asked. 'Do you want to unite your family? Do you simply want to pass a comment that hints at you knowing the truth?'

Liara thought for a moment.

'I see the problem.' she said eventually. 'If this is acknowledged then my mother's reputation will suffer greatly. And if I ask my father not to acknowledge this publicly then it will seem as if _I_ am the one who is embarrassed.'

Her head sank. I frowned. She had covered the problem pretty well. Now for a solution. I thought hard but my galaxy-class brain refused to offer me any kind of advice.

'_Brain._' I tried.

'_Yes?_'

'_She is my friend. Ah... girlfriend. Help me!_'

There was a silence in my head.

'_You have to think._' it hinted.

I thought again. Images went around and round. Words and ideas. Phrases that I might be able to use to pacify people. But maybe manipulation was the wrong approach. Maybe I should try with honesty. Did it matter whether Benezia had to abdicate? Yes it did. Damn. Was abdicated the right word? Didn't matter. So would it then make sense if Liara met her "father"? In one way, yes. Another, no. Maybe she should wait. Until she was ready to face the consequences. There was no round-about way of doing this as far as I could tell.

'Maybe I should... wait.' said Liara musingly. 'I can't just rush off to Ilium anyways.'

'I think so too.'

'Good. Now that we have that established; let's get back to the important bits.' the captain looked at us shrewdly. 'The information I gave away was useless to me. But this means that I am now fired. Which means that you owe me. A lot.'  
I nodded. I knew that he would name a price.

'So here is what I want. You will come with me to Omega.'

I blinked. That's all?

'Is that it?'

'For now.' he nodded.

That wasn't exactly what I had in mind. This was, in fact, a lot better.

'What business do you have on Omega?' asked Liara, also taken aback.

'Oh a little of this, a little of that. But mainly, it's about not getting arrested again.' he shrugged. He wasn't lying but there was more to it.

'And you need us because..?'

'I'm sure that two young ladies such as yourselves will have a use on a place like Omega.' he shrugged, barely concealing a grin.

I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt because there was no arguing it, I owed him. And also because the alternative was likely to get thrown off the ship and into the drearily empty vacuum of space, which doesn't much appeal to me.

'Alright.' I nodded slowly as pieces of the conversation started to slip away. 'But then answer this; why did you tell us about your pirating days? What makes you think that we won't report you to Alliance? Or the Council. Why this immediate trust?'

He chuckled.

'Because the Alliance is already hunting me. The same second that data chip was handed over to Cerberus they red flagged me. But to get to me on Omega would mean entering the Terminus systems. For that they are likely to send a Spectre after me. Or they would, had been important enough.' he shrugged.

'But why did you tell us?'

'Because you are going to be helping me with a goal of mine.' he hinted.

'And the crew? Aren't they Alliance?' said Liara, worried.

'Yes. But they have been with me through some very heavy fire. I don't expect much trouble from them.'

I stared.

'You seriously think that their loyalty to you is greater than what they have to their families and Alliance?'

'Not at all. They will never have to choose. When their service period is over I will drop them off at some Alliance port, with their pay and all.' said the captain soothingly.

'But they will be convicted for piracy!' exclaimed Liara.

'No they won't. The Alliance isn't stupid.' said the captain dismissively.

'I don't know. They sure are good at acting that way.' I said in mock-disappointment.

'True.'

This all made perfect sense to me and Liara seemed to be appeased as well.

'Alright. My turn.' he said again, looking at us sheepishly. 'What kind of relationship do you two have, exactly?'

I looked very hard at the table, doing my best not to blush. It was all well to talk about this with Liara, who was after all... my partner. I think. Was she? What were we to each other exactly. Curiosity made me look up at her. She was looking back at me and her eyes were the reflection of my thoughts.

The captain looked curiously from me to Liara.

'Because I can't figure it out.' he said eventually, as no answer was forthcoming. I couldn't figure out what we were either. 'You look at each other as if you are afraid of each other. But then you speak and it sounds as if you just found home. And then you touch and I can't even look because it feels as if every touch is something that should be done in private.' he shook his head, frowning. 'So are you... related? Or are you married? Or... are you indebted or something?'

I thought about this. Maybe that was it. Indebted. I owed Liara something. And she owed me. But I had decided long ago that she did not owe me anything.

'We are very good friends.' said Liara calmly. 'And I trust Min implicitly.'

The captain laughed.

'Not married then.' he chuckled. 'Well, I won't bother you again with foolish questions. Get settled on the crew deck. You're going to be staying here for a while.'

As Liara and I went down to the mess we heard a buzzing sound of voices coming from everywhere. Everyone, aside from the pilot, were discussing something.

'Hey, Min!' said Elisabeth, motioning for us to sit with her and Martin. 'So what happened?' she asked, worry colouring her voice.

'Well... there was a...' I wondered how much I should tell the crew. 'How much does the captain tell you about what he does?'

'Nothing. Ever.' she said, her eyes wide. 'And if you try to pull that on me, I swear I'll kung-fu kick you into talking.' she warned in a friendly tone of voice.

'Interesting.' I smiled. 'I'll tell you what happened on the planet.' Elisabeth nodded and Martin moved in closer to listen.

I did tell them. I told them that there was a Cerberus base hidden under the surface of the planet and that we were captured for a very brief period of time and then released when the captain broke free and Liara stopped the men from shooting. Liara, unconsciously, sat up proudly at this.

'Wow.' said Elisabeth. 'That is wild. And now the Cerberus are after us. Lucky thing that the other Alliance ship helped us.'

I frowned. Other Alliance ship? Had they assumed that the ship which was boarding Khan was Cerberus? And not the other way around? Good. This would simplify every coming encounter with Alliance. If we ever had any.

'So what happens next?' asked Martin. I'd forgotten the accent and had to smile as I heard him talk. I didn't know why, but it was a beautiful accent to me.

'We are going to Omega.' I shrugged. I felt Liara frown in alarm but she said nothing. 'Cerberus can be anywhere after all.'

The engineers just nodded.

'And what happens to you two?' asked Martin.

'We are coming along. Liara needs to have a look at the data we found on the protheans in peace and the captain'd probably like to have me in the engineering for a while longer anyways.'

'Good. It will be nice with some mature company.' sighed Elisabeth.

'And what am I? A potted plant?'

'No. A potted plant knows when to keep its mouth shut.'

'See? Do you see what I have to endure daily?' said Martin, throwing his hands up in mock-exasperation.

There was something very odd about these two, but I couldn't be certain what it was. I looked at their hands. No rings. So they were not married. They must be brother and sister. Funny how they sounded and looked nothing alike.

Elisabeth looked down on her omni tool.

'The engines are back online. It looks like we're off to Omega.' said Martin, who's omni tool had told him much the same thing that Elisabeth's had.

We all went down to the engine deck, Liara tagging along behind me. She was already back to her study of the prothean data. My mind drifted back to Akuze. And found nothing. All I could see in my mind was the cunning face of the Illusive man. Complete with his cigar and bourbon. I couldn't deny that he was charming. And mysterious. Very mysterious. And so exotic and dangerous. And very, very soon, he would be all those things post-mortem.

Omega is an asteroid. It was dubbed Omega long ago because of its destructive effect on any ship that happened to get trapped in the debris that was orbiting it. Later, it was colonized for defensive purposes and eventually developed its own, and very successful, underworld market. From there things started to go horribly wrong. Unless you belonged to the underworld of course. The Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack, Silver Wings, Crimson Blade and Flame Path were only some of the many gangs that had, if not a headquarter, then at least a base of operation on Omega. And if you pack so many feral hounds in one cage, there is no doubt about what will follow. Anything that gets in the way is ground to dust.

But then, a krogan bounty hunter made a name for himself by killing Arich Kelend, the Salarian who had, at the time, been in charge of the Crimson Blade.

The krogan made many loyal and powerful followers. At first his gang was much like any other gang, lots of guns, drugs and shooting. But then, little by little, every other gang began to deffer to his.

The reason for the accumulated power was a group of asari who had joined the krogan. Asari being powerful and intelligent are always welcome additions, but this group also happened to be very clever. Very cunning. Very ambitious.

In less than a century the krogan's gang was the authority on Omega. Nothing moved on the asteroid without his permission. Aside from his right-hand man. Or woman. An asari. An ambitious hag. She took the power by defeating the krogan and letting him live in shame under her rule. She dubbed herself Omega.

'We are here, captain. But... maybe its a bad idea to return here. I mean... she's not your greatest fan.' said the pilot as the asteroid was in clear view on the screens.

'Ah, don't fret. She still has a soft spot for me, if I don't miss my guess.' waved the captain carelessly.

'Yeah, but that spot is covered by a lot of biotics and aided by hundreds of mercs.' shivered the pilot.

'I can handle her.' grinned the captain.

Earlier, he had pocketed something. Another data chip, perhaps. Maybe he intended to do the same thing he'd done on Akuze? It had worked once. My idea. I tried not to smile but it was really hard.

'So why are we on Omega? Will you tell us?' asked Liara as we left the Khan and walked down the docks to the reception area.

'I am here to visit... a friend of mine.'

'Why?'

'Because I need information. Something that I won't find by messing with Alliance intelligence.'

'Like what?'

'Khan. My old ship.'

He walked in a secure stride, as if this was his home, rather than a humongous dumpster. As soon as we turned left to exit the docks however, a batarian stopped us. I gasped. I'd never seen a batarian before and I hadn't expected one to look so... a lot like a bulldog, actually. I wonder if anyone has ever done that comparison before? I tried to make my gasp surprised rather than horrified.

'Ocean.' said the batarian. I frowned. Ocean? Was my omni tool working properly. But then I realized that he had been talking to the captain. And the captain had nodded. He had a nickname?

'Moklan, my good friend-...' began the captain.

'Stow it. She wants you dead. I assume that, since you dare show your ugly mug here, you must have something of interest but no value. Ten seconds to convince me not kill you.' the batarian said this all in a careless and deadly voice. He wasn't kidding.

'I've got this.' said the captain. To my surprise, he was grinning.

Moklan looked at him in disbelief.

'And what exactly is this?' he asked.

'Let me through and you'll see.'

The batarian rubbed his eyes. The top two.

'That's not how this works, human.'

'Yes it is. And now I know for a fact that you haven't cracked my encryption yet. Or else you would have shot me the second you saw this thing.'

The batarian opened his mouth to say something but the captain brushed past him as if there was nothing in his way.

'Come on, girls.' he called.

We both hurried forward. I felt really annoyed. Form Akuze, to Citadel to Ragdov to Akuze and now I am on Omega, following a suicidal captain. This, whatever this was, was definitely not worth it. A ship is a ship. What did it matter? He already has one. Greedy bastard. I wanted to voice all of this, but then we brushed past a lot more security and heavily armed men. All of them were glaring at us.

'Hey! Hey, you human ass! Get over here or I'll-...' but the voice was lost in the sounds of Omega and the captain hadn't even bothered looking back.

We reached a club from where I could hear music playing. "Afterlife" stood written in blood-red letters above the entrance doors.

The captain sniffed heavily, much like as if he was home. I tried to hold my breath as much as possible because of the smell of the man standing next to me, trying to get into the club.

Liara and I followed the captain up to the doors and... we were stopped by a very bulky batarian.

'Get lost, Ocean. She's not going to see you. Its better, in fact, if she does not find out that you've been here. She has a truck-load of bullets with your name on every one of them. If you go in, you won't-...'

'Cut the crap.' said the captain calmly. 'Just let me in and let her tell me how many bullets she's got for me.'

I saw a fleeting look of worry cross the batarian's face. But then it was gone.

'Fine, have it your way Carter. But she's not happy with you.' he shrugged and opened the doors.

As we started walking again, through the entry hall to the club, I decided to stop and make sense of this.

'What are the chances of us getting killed?' I asked of the captain.

'Oh, you know.' he shrugged.

'I need to know what is going on. I really don't want to die in a club.' I persisted.

'A fifty-fifty chance, I think.' he gave in.

'But that is... very poor.' I mumbled. 'For a ship?'

'Not just _a_ ship. _The _ship.' he corrected as if there was some significance behind the difference.

'Fine, the ship. I still don't fancy getting shot for it.'

'Oh you won't. She'll only kill me. You will be her playthings.' he waved dismissively as we entered the club. There were dozens of people dancing, talking, shouting, fighting and murmuring in corners. There were equally many pole dancers. I jumped as one of them lowered herself down to me and said something that made my face go red from embarrassment.

We walked up a short stair, passed a grumpy guard person who instantly raised his weapon. The captain ignored that, completely at ease with himself and surrounded by a dozen armed batarians and turians.

'Kill him before he starts talking!' shouted a female voice from behind the guards.

'I've got what you want!' said the captain quickly, holding up the data chip over the heads of the guards.

They all looked about to see what she would order them to do. The one standing next to me seemed to be eager for something to shoot. I tried to figure out how to stand in order for all my vital organs to survive. It took me less than a second to realize that I would have to be outside this circle of guns to live.

'Stand down.' said the female voice in a pained kind of way. 'But if you are bullshitting me I will make your last moments a misery.'

The speaker was an asari. She was lounging on a couch, but she was anything but casual. Her face was hard and cold. Her eyes were burning with hatred and her forearms were shivering slightly so that her hands wouldn't clench into fists.

I looked in horror as the captain casually sat down very close to her. But she didn't do or say anything. Not even when he put an arm around her.

'Its been a while.' he said softly.

I tried to read the asari's expressions but they were a blur. Hatred mixed with annoyance and... something else that I couldn't identify.

'Leave us.' she commanded.

All the guards looked sceptical as they turned to go back to their posts.

'You too.' she nodded at me and Liara.

'They stay.' said the captain, taking her left hand in his.

She shut her eyes and I could almost hear how she mentally counted to ten. When she opened them there was nothing but ice in them.

'What is it?' she nodded towards the data chip. Her tone of voice was at odds with her appearance.

She sounded cold and her eyes confirmed it, but she was also doing nothing to remove captain's arm from around her.

'You know that I feel bad.' sighed the captain. 'But there was nothing I could do. The Alliance had me cornered and you know I'm not the kind of guy to die for my cause.'

'Lest it be the right cause.' she added. 'You came here knowing how I would receive you. For what?'

'Before I tell you, just hear me out. I don't want to fight with you.' soothed the captain. It was odd to see this. It was almost as if... Hadn't he said that hew as married to a matriarch? Was this her? I couldn't believe it. She hated his guts.

'I didn't fail to screw you over and lose the cash-...'

'You know...' interrupted the asari irritably. '... if this had been about ten million creds, I would accept that you didn't mean to lose it. But when its about seven billion credits... apologies and intentions mean little.'

'I know, Aria. Which is why I'm here.' he sounded serious and the asari, Aria looked at him intently. 'I need you to tell me where my ship is.'

She laughed a cold and menacing laugh that made me sure that we weren't going to live through this. But the captain was still holding her hand and she seemed to be mollified in some strange way by that.

'You came here to tell me that you have something I want in return for your ship? That is stupid even for you, Ocean.' she shook her head.

'That's not it. That's not it at all. You see, I never lost the money.'

She was silent for a moment. I tried to understand what was going on.

Aria had entrusted the captain with money. He had lost them and was arrested by Alliance. But the Alliance didn't find the money. Interesting. And now he was trying to get back into Aria's good books.

'What do you mean – you haven't lost the money?' she asked in a kind of deadly-calm voice.

'I mean that they are still on the Khan. My Khan. Your money. We would both benefit if you told me where it is right now. I know that your intelligence is second best only to the Salarian task force. Can't you see how we would both win?'

'And why would I not simply keep the Khan for myself? I have been itching to get it back for a while now.' she said, raising one eyebrow.

'Because you would never do something like that to me.' said the captain simply, letting go of her hand and casually relaxing on the couch. Then he spotted me and Liara. 'Stupid me!' he slapped his forehead. 'Sit down, sit down. Have a drink.'

'Who are they, Ocean?' asked Aria, looking in an almost-but-not-quite curious way at me and Liara.

'I'll tell you in a second. First, the data chip.' he held up the black chip.

'Yes?'

'This chip unlocks all my private caches on Omega, Ilium, Citadel, Migrant Fleet, Tellus and gives you access to Cerberus data that I recently got my hands on.' he handed it to her without any bargaining.

'And you give this to me just like that?' asked Aria. Even she was surprised.

'Darling, whether you like it or not, I still have my ring. And I'll bet that you kept yours. There are no secrets in this family.' he shrugged.

I could feel Liara's amazement because it was in synch with my own. I'd guessed that they were married but having it confirmed made it so... unreal.

She was silent for a moment. Her eyes weren't cold any more but they were hard. Impossible to read. And her body told me nothing either. She seemed at ease. And, if I had known her better, I would have realized that this meant that she was experiencing one of her rare soft moments.

'Now I remember why I didn't have someone assassinate you in Purgatory.' she mused. 'So if I tell you where the ship is, you will hand over the money? Just like that?'

'Even if I don't, with this chip you'll be able to get them on your own.' nodded the captain.

I couldn't watch, the moment seemed so private somehow. As if both of them were telling embarrassing secrets about themselves. The captain was casual and cool while Aria was a hard rock but under the guises was something more and I thought that I understood why they had gotten married. I was wrong, of course. But I couldn't know that.

'What is your name?' asked Aria, addressing Liara.

'I am Liara T'Soni.' replied Liara formally. 'And this is Numine Shin'ichi.'

Aria's reaction to my name made me and Liara start. She looked around at the captain with wide-eyed amazement and all the guises were gone. Pure incredulity and nothing else was written across her features.

'What?' I asked, confused. No one replied.

'Ocean? Does this mean what I think it does?' asked Aria in a controlled voice.

He nodded, very smug indeed.

'This is the Key?'

He nodded again.

I frowned. The Key? What could that mean? I thought through all I had heard so far. It still didn't make sense.

'I think that I'd better explain.' said the captain, sitting forward and looking at me. 'A century or so ago Aria's men found a black box that was doing extreme things to their software. They managed to shut it down, but to access it there is a kind of puzzle that needs solving. So Aria here designed her own test to find someone to solve the puzzle.' he thought for a moment. 'You know, if you hadn't run off with Liara then you would have been here by now. Eaten by a vorcha.'

I stared at him.

'It's a joke.' he hinted.

'Ah. Funny.' then the penny dropped. 'So the test I did in the hospital was conducted by your men and not the Alliance?' I addressed Aria.

'I hire goons from Alliance, Council and Spectres time and time again.' she shrugged. 'Allegiance means nothing when you speak of such matters.'

'Anyway, the first, twentieth and last puzzles were designed to check whether you had the brains to figure it out. A few managed to do both, many more managed to do at least one. I managed to do all three, but my total score was nine, so...' he shrugged. 'But you got full score. I think that you could do this. If you want to pay me back, here's where to start.'

I nodded. If he was certain that I could, then I would try and try my best.

'But why not just put the puzzle into the test?' asked Liara.

'Two reasons;' said Aria simply. 'One, if someone did manage to solve it then not only I would know the answer but also millions of other people. I can't take that risk. And also because the real puzzle is much, much bigger.'

Liara nodded, satisfied. There would be no shooting at us after all.

'So what did the black box do?' I asked.

'From what we can tell, it uses biotics to control electronics.' replied Aria. 'I don't know the details, but it seems as if it is a prothean device. Though this is much more advanced technology than even the mass relays.'

I nodded. I could feel Liara's curiosity. I knew what she was thinking.

'Alright.' I nodded. 'I will do this. If I can.'

'There is little doubt that you can.' said Aria dismissively. 'Alright, Ocean, you won. I'm giving you my info about the Khan and I expect the money back as soon as the ship is under your command. You are free to come and go as you like, but remember, next time I will not halt before pulling the trigger.'

The captain nodded.

'Well, you know where everything is and I dare say that you know how to bypass my security. So have fun with the black box.' said Aria getting up. 'Now I am a busy person, so if you would clear off.' she gestured towards the staircase.

The captain bent low and it looked as if he was about to kiss her. But he never came that far. She lifted him off her with her biotics.

'Don't push it, human.' said the batarian, Moklan, from behind me.

'Ah, now we can't have that.' said the captain as he was released to the floor. 'Its a bad idea to let children watch us fight.' he winked at Moklan.

Moklan glowered.

'Come on girls. I'm hungry and the crew are restless.'


	9. 100 pages! Yay!

Hi guys. I have now officially written more than 100 pages of ME – How the fate plays us. This is a cause for celebration. So here: (http)(:/)boxes-of-sand(dot)deviantart(dot)com/ I have uploaded a few fanart pictures and I will keep adding more and more as the time goes by and the story progresses. I thank you all once again for reading and supporting me in this project. After reaching chapter 15 I will upload all the corrected chapters, free of typos and all the awkwardness in dialogues are fixed.  
/Sandbox.

P.S. Remove the () around the words and replace (dot) with a real dot. Terribly sorry about the reeeally long wait to change and update.


	10. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: How?

The box was stored in a giant and very empty room that was located just bellow the club. I could feel the vibrations from the noise without actually hearing any of the music down here.

'So the Illusive man knew why this test of intelligence was done?' I asked as we entered the room.

'Possibly. What difference does it make? Even if he can get his hands on you, Aria's the one who's keeping the box. And being able to outlive the Illusive man by centuries yet, she's not concerned about Cerberus agendas.' replied the captain patiently.

The room around us was big and, unlike any other place on Omega, it was shinny and clean and very white. In the centre of the huge and empty room stood a kind of pedestal with no particular embellishment. Just a raised stool upon which was a fist-sized black box. It was, indeed, a black box, there was no other word for it.

'Is that it?' Liara asked, looking about the room skeptically.

'Yes. That's it. But remove all tech you've got when you cross that line.' he pointed at a circle drawn about two feet in diameter around the pedestal.

'Why?'

'Well, it is off. But it still manages to wiped some of the lesser databases if they get too close.' shrugged the captain.

'Does this mean that I'll be here until I figure it out?' I asked in trepidation.

'No, we'll take it aboard the Khan. You can use my quarters for working with it. I might as well move down to the crew's quarters.'

'Then why are we here now?' I frowned.

'Symbolism and I want you to tell me that you can do this.' replied the captain.

I shut down my omni tool and approached the black box. A kind of electric energy was buzzing within the circle's borders. I took a look at the box.

'Where exactly is the puzzle?' I frowned. It was plain. There was nothing on it. 'And can I touch it?'

'Touch away. And we still haven't figured out where exactly the puzzle is. Using biotics we are able to see a pattern around it, but what it means we have no clue.'

At this Liara approached me and lifted the box with her biotics. True enough, as the box was hovering in mid-air I could discern a snake-like pattern crisscrossing the luminous, blue surface of the biotic field.

It looked like the scrip I had seen on Ragdov, down in the ruin.

'Liara?' I asked to make sure that she recognized it as well.

'I know. It resembles the figures greatly but the deviation is too great for them to be from the same language.' she replied.

I groaned.

'There are two languages to it?'

'Remember that the protheans were as well-travelled as all of the Council races put together and more. They must have had just as many, if not more, colonies on different worlds. It makes sense for hundreds and even thousands of languages to exist.'

'Yeah, I know.' I shook my head.

If this was indeed a puzzle that was _written_ in prothean, how the hell was I supposed to solve it?

'Do you, ah, feel anything from it?' I asked, hoping for further illumination.

'Feel?'

'With your biotics.'

Liara smiled an amused smile.

'This is not magic, Min. There is no arcane connection between me and the box while I am holding it. If anything then my senses are muted by the biotics, not enhanced.'

'I know. Had to try.' I shrugged. Then I turned to the captain. 'So where is all the research on this thing?'

'It's all on the Khan now. Can you figure it out, you think?'

I looked at the puzzle. It was roughly like a rubix cube, only without any moving parts, any indentations and no apparent goal. I probably could. With time.

'I thinks so.' I said in an uncertain voice. 'I really need more time for this.'

He nodded.

'Then let's drop it for now.' he looked around the room causally. 'Come, I'll show you to your rooms in this place. You can go out if you want, and have a look at Omega. But don't expect a land of magic and ambrosia. It's a lot more like... A hammer to the head and a kick in the nuts. If you have those.'

Our room was a very luxurious one, even by Citadel standards. We had a view of the asteroid belt around Omega, the red dust making a constant light of dawn to colour the walls in a warm light.

'So what do you think?' I asked as we sat down on the bed, looking outside through the window across from the bed.

'What about?'

'Why do you think people call the captain "Ocean"?'

She looked at me in surprise.

'His ship is named Khan, is it not? The Ruler?'

'I don't know what that means.' I frowned. 'Maybe.'

'And does human history not speak of a great leader of men, Gengis Khan?'

I had to think for a moment to figure out whether oceans and mongol leaders had any connection.

'I give up. What's the connection?' I asked finally, as no great brain-wave came to my rescue.

'Gengis said that he wanted to rule from mountains to the ocean. A very ambitious goal indeed, considering his circumstances. I think that they were mocking him.' she added the last part unhappily.

'How come you know what Gengis Khan wanted? I am the human here.' I pointed out.

'I wasn't specifically researching human history. He is just mentioned in "_Guides to Life, or at least Survival_". It said something about him killing his brother and leading his family out off starvation.' she replied in a way that suggested that I should have known about this.

'Alright. But I don't think that they were mocking him.' I added. 'He seems to like the name. I wonder if he knows they think he's too ambitious though.'

Liara chuckled.

'If half of what I have heard about Aria T'Loak is true then he isn't too ambitious. He is flat out insane.'

'Why?'

'She has no mercy nor consideration for her enemies. The fact that we are still alive, arriving to Omega with him is proof of his, ah, "fool's luck".'

I thought this through. Aria seemed to be a very powerful person. And considering the fact that I was hunted by powerful persons to start with, maybe Omega was a relatively safe place for me to be. Alliance has no say in what goes on in the Terminus systems after all.

'You could go, you know.' I said, thinking.

'Where? What do you mean?' she asked, confused.

'I mean, you owe the man nothing. He wants me because he thinks that I can figure out his puzzle and give him some credibility. And he might be right, I don't know. But you... I don't think he'd hold it against you if you left.'

Something blunt hit me dully on the top of my head.

'Ow!' I said, looking up to identify the assaulting object. It was a book. 'What..?'

'We have to agree on this once and for all.' said Liara in a decisive tone. 'I, Liara T'Soni love you, Numine Shin'ichi. I will be with you for as long as you wish me to be there for you.'

My mind blanked out. I knew that I was supposed to process the information, but I couldn't even start to think. My brain was just a pleasant buzzing noise.

'Min?' she poked me in the shoulder.

'I'm... you love me? I mean, you _love_ me? Like that?' I interlaced my fingers to suggest unity.

I wondered again whether asari were mammals. I had to assume that they were because mammals are the most successful form of life in the galaxy. Aside from salarians who are... lizards? Amphibian? Or were they mammals too? Again, I had no idea what qualified for being a mammal and resolved to consult something about that.

'I do.' replied Liara.

I pursed my lips. Did I love her? How did she mean love? Come to think of that, what kinds of love are there when you already are having sex? It's not a brother-sister love, that's for sure. Not mother and child. Not friends. Well friends, yes, but more as well. How romantic was this statement? Or is it just that, a statement? Maybe I'm over-thinking it and she simply says that she likes me more than most. That would be true for me. But if she is being romantic about it then was it mutual? Was I, in fact, in love with her the way that you see men and women in love? I wasn't even sure that such a thing was possible. I was quite certain that for love you need two genders. And we had. Female and asari. I think that they are one category on the side, really. So could I? Should I? It's not like we can't have a family. This isn't homosexual.

'I do.' I said after a very long pause.

'You do... what?' she asked, pretending to sound casual.

'You want me to say it?' I asked sheepishly.

'I said it. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but I understand you hesitation, I really do.' she looked up at me from under her eyelashes.

'I looo...' I began. The word stuck in my throat. She laughed at my expression.

'I do too.' she said and sat back in a relaxed way.

Funny how I had expected her to react with anger if I couldn't say it. Why couldn't I, though? It's just a word. But maybe, those who have the hardest time to admit it are the ones who understand how important this is. I hope so, at least. Otherwise I might be doing Liara a great injustice. I looked at her to see whether she was offended but her calm composure never failed.

'Thanks.' I said, snuggling up to her.

Maybe the fact that she didn't respond to me should have lit a light bulb somewhere, I don't know. I was too relieved to have her accept me to notice.

'Wanna go and see the city?' I asked her, gesturing towards the window.

'Omega? I don't know. The captain had a very good description of it. A hammer to the head and a kick in the... well you get the idea. It's not a tourist-destination exactly.' she seemed to mean it.

'Come on, it will be fun.' and I knew that as I said that that this trip wouldn't be fun.  
If the only reason for going anywhere is because it's fun then it's a bad idea to go to wherever it's fun. Fun equals regret in so many real ways that I didn't even like to imagine. But Liara gave in and five minutes later we were at the Afterlife. Or rather, outside of it. The view down here wasn't nearly as spectacular as it was in our room. In fact, I distinctly remembered junkyards that looked nicer. The ruins of Akuze looked poetic, at least. The standing buildings here looked like some species with acid for urine had pissed on the walls. Repeatedly.

Ignoring this obvious threat to my health and, ah, life-style. Because, you know, if someone kills you then that will be a drastic change of life-style. I sniggered.

'What?' asked Liara.

'Just... inner monologue.' I shrugged.

'Care to share?'

I did. It didn't sound nearly as funny when I said it though and Liara nodded wisely instead.

'Yes, death does change one's outlook on life.' we both sniggered.

Anyway, ignoring all the dumpsters, the homeless and dying we made our way to the markets. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the markets, at least, were guarded, maintenanced and well-stocked. The last part might have been because no one could afford things there, but still.

As we went around though, I realized that things were cheap enough for mostly anyone to afford them. Yes I could see the occasional two thousand cred omni tool upgrade, but those were to be expected anywhere.  
Also, these markets sold the most bizarre things I had ever seen. Vorcha heads as living-room decorations. Human heads, made out of wood, for living-room decor. Naked batarians. It took me a while to assert which were male and which were female. There were furniture with steel covers set under the cloth in case of a gun fight. Teeth of every possible creature one could get his hands on illegally. There were even krogan testicles. Though I knew that I shouldn't, I couldn't help but stare at them in a morbid fascination. They were slowly bobbing up and down, much like a lava lamp. And they were huge. Almost as big as my fist. Liara had to drag me away from them, covering her face with her hands.

'Did you see that? That's bizarre.' I shook my head while she laughed with a tinge of hysteria.

'Why don't we go and look at... you could do with some new clothes.'

I looked down. It was true and I'd thought about getting new, or at least clean, clothes for a while now. But there didn't seem to be time. My shirt, which had been clinically white before, was brown. My tie, which I still wore out of habit and which had been dark-green, was also brown. My suit-pants were... well they had survived somehow. Which was odd because I'd spent a lot more time with them in the dirt than with anything else.

Liara tried to persuade me to get a blouse. Or a t-shirt or anything else aside from the two red shirts that I chose.

'Your taste in clothes is very peculiar.' commented Liara when I had finally agreed that there was nothing to be gained from remaining in this pit. 'I would have thought that you'd want to change out of your school uniform as quickly as you could.'

I blinked.

'My school uniform isn't a shirt and tie. It's a jumpsuit. Remember how I am good with pressing buttons? Well teachers insist on looking ridiculous while you press buttons.'

And that is about when things went wrong. When we turned a corner from the market and into the passage that would take us to the part of Omega where several corridors were connected. Why they were all empty at the moment I could only guess.

'Well, well, well.' said a very ugly man. He was batarian, so maybe it was just my racial instincts that assumed he was ugly. More importantly, though, he was wielding a gun. And behind him, a group of asari and batarians were wielding more guns.

'Well?' I asked.

'Look at the two pretty lovers. On vacation on Omega, am I right?' asked the batarian, grinning broadly. He smelled like a wet dog.

'No. On business.' I shrugged.

'Oh, look! I am an important business person! I am not scared of the bad batarian!' said the batarian in a mocking and not at all lady-like voice. 'Well guess what, I don't care.'

'Good. I'd hate to hurt your feelings.' I smiled.

I knew very well that it was stupid being smart with someone who is bigger, stronger and dumber than you but something of the captain had rubbed off on me.

The batarian spat at me, missing my face by less than in inch. I couldn't suppress a shiver of disgust. If that had hit me I wasn't sure how I'd react.

'You trying to be smart?' he asked me, raising his chin so high that I could see the back of his head through his nose.

'Look, you are obviously stalling. There is something you want but you don't know how much you can get out of us. So here's how we can do it;' I said impatiently. This game of wit didn't appeal to me at all. 'I am going to tell you what I'll give you. You take it and no one gets hurt.'

The batarians laughed. Some of the asari cracked a smile. One of the asari was squinting at Liara as if unsure whether she recognized her or not. Liara was standing proudly at my side, her left hand vibrating with tension and nerves at the small of my back.

'You tell us what to do?' asked the batarian derisively.

'Yes because you clearly don't know what to do yourselves.' I nodded.

'Says the little, insignificant human. I have broken bitches like you for breakfast.' he growled. 'And I ain't gonna take this shit from you.'

I caught a glimpse of an insignia on the batarians left arm. It said Flame Path. Under the title was the picture of a burning pyramid.

'So the flame path are a bunch of simple slavers?' I asked, pretending to frown in confusion.

'We ain't slavers and we ain't simple. You know what, if you think that you are that clever then let's take you to Grim.'

Everyone around us grinned in anticipation.

'What's Grim?' I asked, frowning.

'You'll like him. And he'll like the both of you.'

I didn't even bother trying to fight. Fighting would only get me hurt and make them raise their guard against more attempts at escaping. Liara did something with her biotics but was subdued quickly by the five asari present.

'So this Grim... is he one of you?' I asked conversationally.

I woke up many hours later. How many, I didn't know. I had a vague feeling that something I had said had brought on this headache, but I couldn't be too sure about it.

'You should be more careful.' said a cold, female voice. 'I detest involving myself personally in rescue operations.'

I looked up to find Aria standing in front of me, her brow furrowed in anger.

'What was your plan, exactly? How did you fail to realize that this would happen if you left your very comfortable accommodations?'

She gestured towards a door. The door itself wasn't that interesting. It was square and grey and had buttons here and there. Around the door, however, lay a pile of corpses. Or I thought that they were corpses. Some of them seemed to be breathing.

'Did you know that, no matter how many men you possess, it's impossible to break into a narrow corridor that has been set up specifically to prevent large groups of armed people to pass it? No? Because that is what I had to do to get to you two. If this wasn't a base of operation my intelligence hadn't picked up on, and if this wasn't a major discovery, I would have come here simply to kill you myself.' she flexed her fingers. 'It so happens that your friend, Liara was clever enough to keep the men from shooting while Ocean broke the "lines of fire". Otherwise you, I, Ocean and T'Soni would be dead by now.'

I looked at her for a minute or so to assert myself.

'I'm sorry.' I said finally. 'I had no idea-...'

'I know that.' she growled. 'Does it matter?'

'No.' I shrugged.

'Then why bother telling me? I'm the one telling you what you should avoid doing in the future. I'm not fishing for compliments.'

'You did a very nice job.' said Ocean, coming to stand by her side.

She rolled her eyes and left the room.

'And you two. What were you thinking? Those men could have been murderers.' he threw at us casually, kicking away the weapons from the knocked-out gang members. 'I mean, yeah they were. But you didn't have to go with them, did you? You could have called me. Or at least called Aria.' he gave this idea some thought. 'Alright, maybe not Aria. But someone. Why didn't you do _anything_?'

I looked towards Liara who's face still reflected panic from whatever had happened.

'There was no time.' I replied, walking over to her. 'I was knocked out-...'

'I thought that they had killed you!' she blurted out very quickly. 'They said that you weren't breathing and that your heart stood still.'

I opened my mouth to reply to that.

'They what?' was my genius reply.

'They wanted me to open your chest to take out your heart. That's what the Grim does. He pushes on people to get them to do bad things.' she looked positively horrified now.

I scratched my chest. I looked down.

'You cut into me!' I asked, bewildered.

'I thought that-...' she began, terrified.

'Why did you cut vertically? There's no way that you could have opened my ribcage that way. Come to think of it, with this little force, I doubt that you could have reached my heart no matter how you cut.' I waved her away.

She was silent and staring at me for a very long while.

I knew kinda, sorta what she was thinking. She'd expected me to feel betrayed when she realized that she was going to survive and that I had survived as well. And then she must feel confused by my response because, let's face it, it wasn't exactly what you expect to hear. And she was upset that I took this situation so lightly.

'Yeah.' I nodded. 'I love you.'

Ocean completely and utterly failed to react to this statement. Liara's eyebrows rose. Then she nodded. It was the explanation she had needed. Was it true? Yes. I think that it was.

She got up and hugged me.

'I can't stand all this melodrama.' I said, copying Jean.

'Then let's move.' said Ocean, motioning towards the door.

'What about them?' Liara gestured towards the gang members.

'What about them? They'll wake up with a headache, robbed and with a price on their head. No biggie.' shrugged Ocean.

I wasn't sure why but all the way back to the Khan I felt as if Liara and I had bonded beyond what we already had. Was it because I said I love her? Or because I wasn't dead and she felt guilty? Because we were going back to the ship, which seemed like a safe refuge at the moment? Or because of the way Ocean walked, I could tell that he had a plan for where we should go next.

_Locks are so easy to open with a key. Eyes are so easy to use to see. Locks are so easy to open with a key. Eyes are so easy to use to see. Locks are so easy to open with a key. Eyes are so easy to use to see. Locks are so easy to open with a key. Eyes are so easy to use to see. Locks are so easy to open with a key. Eyes are so easy to use to see. Damn nightmares._

'What I find the most peculiar is why they attacked you.'

I jumped. If things kept appearing out of nowhere I'd have a heart attack some day.

'Aria?' I asked, puzzled at why she was aboard the Khan. Then I saw her nightie. Oh.

'They knew very well that you are under my protection. And that I value you a lot.' she continued, not looking at me. 'And that if they play me, their deaths will be slow and painful. So why?'

She looked at me as if I was supposed to have all the answers.

'Have you figured out the puzzle box?' she nodded towards the black box.

We'd spent two weeks, working on it. One other attack had occurred on my way from the Khan to Afterlife, to retrieve the black box. And the result had been almost identical only this time I'd been conscious. And I'd met the Grim. A really annoying hanar who was the head of the Flaming Path.

_'So, girl. You are the prize that mistress Omega found on the streets.' said the hanar. It was so out of character that I wanted to laugh. 'And you think that you have the solution to the artifact of the enkidlers?' _

_'The what? Oh, protheans.' I remembered something about the enkindlers when I'd spoken to Liara. I was furtively glad that she wasn't with me this time. The krogan surrounding me looked very nasty. My cheek and ribs burned from being kicked. I could see too many openings in their current formation to be overly worried. Even without rescue I was fairly certain of my chances of escape... in the near future. _

_'Yes, protheans. You will fail. Because you always do. Because you failed your mother. And then you topped it off by leaving your father when he offered you a loving family.' the hanar's voice made the accusations sting me. _

_I laughed as lightly as I could._

_'Is this what you do? Tell people things about their past? Listen up, you blimp. I've seen my worst nightmare. I've come to terms with it.'_

_'Oh really? You have come to terms with the pathetic excuse for a soul that you claim to possess? Not even given to you, but a soul that you took from your mother's memory. And threw dirt at it.'_

_'And what about you?' I spat. I had to work hard to keep my eyes from getting red-rimmed. 'A hanar who was bullied by other species and finally decided to use his own misery as a starting point for his new life. You know what human's call people like you? Mentally unstable. Weak.' _

_'I am not weak!'_

_'Yes you are. You cannot even insult me without other people watching you-...' I had to stop talking due to a very heavy fist that connected with my chest, winding me. '-... lie about your abilities-...' another punch. I had to stop there. I really didn't like being punched. _

_'Weak are we all.' said the hanar and I was delighted to hear a note of annoyance in his tone. 'But unlike you, I am not bound-...'_

_There was a commotion. _

_'It's Aria! Get the Grim out of here! Men, positio – agh!' _

_The commotion lasted for only a few seconds. Krogan were standing and dying. Krogan were charging and dying. I felt sick. A big chunk of my lunch came back out of my stomach in a nastier form. _

_'Numine, if you keep doing this you'll get me killed.' I heard Ocean's voice as the gunfire died down. _

'I am working on it. But having no reference point to what the puzzle actually is...' I shrugged.

'Very well. I suppose that there is no speeding up the process.' she sighed. 'I am here to say goodbye. Ocean and you are going on a trip. He will tell you where you are going when the ship takes off.' and with that she left the captain's quarters.

I had a hard time to adjust to calling him Ocean. He didn't mind being "captain", but he said that he felt awkward when I called him that.

I looked back at the black box. It was glowing with a blue light. Liara was sitting on the bed, keeping the box lit while reading the prothean data from Ragdov.

'You know, I spoke to Elisabeth today.' she said absentmindedly, not seeming to have realized that Aria had just been here. 'She pointed something very interesting out to me.'

I came to sit next to Liara.

'What is it?'

'She pointed out that the diagram on page ninety four resembles the element chart. Look. If this is H and this is He and this is Li... do you see? Periods and squares just like the element chart.'

I had to give this some thought.

'That would make sense. Though they wouldn't have named the elements the same way we did, now would they?'

'True. No one does. Your lithium is tounen in common asari language.'

I nodded.

'So you are close to a revelation?'

'No, but look at the box. It has five of the signs, no, six of the signs of the element chart. If these are single letters then we might be onto something.'

I looked at the symbols on the box and then in the notes. They were almost identical. In a different print, perhaps, but identical in form.

One of them was in the centre and looked like a very intricate circle, with tiny bars within it and a kind of a wing on it's upper right and lower left sides.

Looking around some more I found the second and third symbols on it. Then the puzzle began to make sense. Don't get me wrong, I had no idea what the symbols meant, but I could see a pattern there. I'm not sure why I hadn't noticed that before. The circle was a reference point around which other symbols were gathered. So if my theory was right then on the opposite side of the box there would be a pyramid. I turned the box over. There was an empty space, surrounded by eight other symbols. But no pyramid. I checked the notes again. In the writings, the pyramid was usually a first-letter thing that was invariably followed by either a moon-like thing or a doughnut-like thing. This Liara had discovered a while back, though it had taken some persistent cross-referencing to be sure.

I toyed with the box some more, tapping on the biotic covering.

'There's something missing.' I whispered.

'What is it?'

'Look. See this circle? It's function is like a dot in a statement, that's what you said, right? And here, on the element-... It's called the periodic chart, alright? On the chart you'll find that the circle begins this bit...' I pointed at the upper part of page eighty. 'And that a pyramid ends it. This repeats. Look. It's like a marking for... pronunciation maybe? I don't know.'

'So the pyramid is missing.' said Liara, turning the box in her hands.

'Yes.'

'What do we do?'

How to recreate sign that's not supposed to be there? Good one.

'... Let's go and have some tea.' I shrugged.

'Why tea?'

'Because we just entered FTL and Ocean will want to see us.'

'How do you know that? And don't call him Ocean.' she shook her head.

'That's his nickname, Liara. Haven't you ever had a nickname? And Aria told me.' I rolled my eyes.

'No. I was named Liara for a reason. The reason being that I would be called Liara as well. You were named Min-...'

'Actually, I was named Numine.' I corrected.

'Oh, I forgot... Let's see, this is something about humans that I don't understand. Why don't you like Numine?' she frowned. 'It is the name your mother gave you.'

'Well... Min is short for Numine.' I replied as evasively as I could.

'It is?' Liara blinked.

'I'll write down.' I sighed.

Trouble is that Min and Numine are spelled differently in the common asari language. Or in salarian. Or most other languages by the way. It's really just english that persists with pre-interstellar contact traditions.

'You take Min from Nu-Min-E?' Liara laughed. 'Why not take Num?'

'Because Num is a lousy name.' I replied.

'Ine?'

'Ine? Really? Gyne – Ine. See the resemblance in pronunciation?'

Liara blinked.

'I don't get it.' she admitted.

'Gyne is a gynaecologist.' I waited for the penny to drop.

'What's that?' she asked curiously. I wondered what the omni tool translated the word into for her.

'It's a doctor for... the lower, central bit of your body.' I rolled my hands around in the air to make it obvious which bit I meant.

'Ah. Then I see how Ine would be inappropriate.' she laughed. 'Why not Numi?'

'Argh! That sounds worse than Numine.' I cringed in mock horror. 'Imagine it; Numi Shin'ichi. I'll live in a fishbowl and eat frogs.'

'Why?'

'Well it sounds like some exotic animal that's out to get me but not quite sure of how to go about doing so. "Hey look, it's a numi! Shoot it!"'

Liara laughed.

We made our way down to the mess, which was mostly empty apart from the occasional passer by to the power circuit modulators for this part of the ship. They could be accessed by an omni tool but it made more direct sense to one if you could see what you were doing as well. The food was just some dry müsli or something like that, with water, juice or alcohol free beer.

'This tastes like cardboard.' I commented, eating the brown guff.

'I have never tasted cardboard... but you have a good point.' sniffed Liara.

'I think it just might be cardboard.' said Ocean, sitting down next to Liara. 'And Min, a word?'

'Sure.'  
I got up and followed him into the med-bay.

'There is something you need to know.' he looked at me intently.

'You're no going to give the black box to Aria?' I guessed.

'Yeah, but apart from that... I am planning to vanish. I'm dropping off the crew on the next hub world. You will have to stay with me until you've solved the puzzle box, but Liara can leave with the rest of the crew if she likes.'

This didn't sound good. There was something big going on. But I was a player now. No way that I'd back out of this. The meeting with the Grim made me realize that, as much as I'd get shot at, there is nothing else for me to do. Become some engineer on Omega? A smuggler for Illium? No. I'd stick around and gun the thing out.

'How are you planning to vanish?' I asked, stalling.

'There is an information broker going under the pseudonym Shadow Broker. He can make people vanish for the right price. One billion should be enough, don't you think?'

I laughed. That was the stupidest plan I'd ever heard of.

'You seriously believe in that plan? That, when the deal has been made, he won't double-cross you for more money? Or that you will actually vanish? You need more than just a new name and account at the Galaxy of Fantasy, you know.'

He frowned at me, annoyed.

'I have been doing this for years, Min. I know how to run and stay invisible.'

'And look where you ended up! In a prison.' I raised one eyebrow. I could see cogs turning in his head, defiance fighting it out with annoyance. 'Anyway, you had the Khan. That's how you remained one step ahead, as far as I understand. It's a good ship, right? But this time you are on a handicapped Alliance vessel with less than a skeleton crew, if you drop the crew off.'

There was a silence where Ocean considered my words.

'So what's your brilliant plan?' he threw at me.

The fact is that I had given "vanishing" some thought. There is one place in particular where no one will look for us because it's so incredibly unlikely for anyone to be there. Well... Anyone aside from...

'Once you find your ship, I'll tell you.' I smiled at him. 'And until then, Liara and I are staying.'

He was torn between my young looks and the fact that Aria was willing to trust me, I was sure of that. But then I wondered how young I really looked. I checked the calendar. My nineteenth birthday was coming in two days time. I wasn't going to tell anyone, of course. No point in making a fuss. Liara's birthday would be in two weeks' time. What should I get her? What did one buy for her immortal girlfriend? A chess set? I liked chess. I'd have to ask Liara for clues on presents.

'When's your birthday?' I asked Ocean as we returned to the mess. Liara had braved a few spoons of müsli and milk.

'It doesn't taste bad. It doesn't taste at all.' she said, looking sheepish.

'I don't remember.' Ocean shook his head. 'I was born in winter, but I don't know which planet that was. And I don't have any surviving family to tell me. When I was younger I'd pretend that it was in June, because I liked the sound of that month. But now... I know that I'm forty five, but when I became that is a bit uncertain.' he shrugged.

'You're forty five!' I asked in amazement. He looked not a day beyond... Well he looked ageless. He could have been fifty or twenty and I wouldn't know.

'Yeah. So most of my life has been pointless.' he nodded, grinning. 'But I'm still as young as I used to be, just slightly older. And Liara here is ancient. Did you know that above hundred counts as _old_ amongst humans?' he looked at her in a patronizing way. 'I mean, we still debate history of what happened a hundred years ago. And that's well-recorded history.'

'So it is with my people as well.' Liara nodded. 'Though we live for a long time, you must not forget that every asari born is young and doesn't know anything about history lest she studies it. So there are many misunderstandings regarding our history as well. There are asari who dedicate themselves to preserving history by sending out eyes and ears across Thessia to gather information. When the asari grow old they pass on the knowledge to one of their apprentices. Because you don't have to pay tax or work when you are a "memory" as they are called, this line of work is very attractive to young and lazy asari.'

'So where is your ship?' I asked suddenly. 'I thought that you received info about it's location.'

'I did. It's in the Skyllian Verge. An old pirate hangout called the Bronze Canon. That's where I recruited my first crew. No one can get it started but they are sure as hell ain't about to waste an opportunity to try.'

'Why? What is it that's so special about your ship?' asked Liara.

'Well like I said, it's the fastest in the galaxy. It ranks with ships like Destiny Ascension, Aristocrat and Hegreda. And as you know, or I bet that you've seen the Destiny at least, that's a pretty powerful ship. The Khan isn't nearly as big, but it's impossible to catch. And it has an adaptive ability to survive things like radiation, heat, EMP and all those things.' he seemed far away as he spoke. Lost in the past. 'I remember this one time when a turian warship managed to get close enough to send me a nuke into the cargo hold. Know what happened? Nothing. The thing was taken apart by the ship's protective mechanisms while still in the mass effect field. Radiation, tech and radio frequencies all rendered useless.'

'That sounds like a very advanced ship.' I said. 'Who made it?'

'Humans did. A private corporation called Sulphur. It was supposed to be used for gathering intelligence. And then I stole it. I thought that I'd get into trouble and that I'd have to go into hiding or that I'd get caught within a week, but thing is – if they can't catch you then you're in the clear.'

Liara nodded.

'I heard about the Sulphur project when mother and I visited the Alliance embassy. The ambassador denied any such project, of course.' then Liara's eyes widened. 'And you stole it? Do you realize that you have handicapped the advancement of the human race?'

'Why are you so upset about it?' he shook his head. 'They have the resources to make a new. Let them do it. I don't care about the politicians. Do you know how much it cost to make one? To make the Khan? One hundred billion creds. That is bout as much as the American vice-president earns per year. A Citadel movie star earns twice that for every vid they make. Mafia king-pins have those sums in their pockets. Aria could have paid for a new Khan to be built with upgrades. So don't tell me that I have handicapped anything. If they are too greedy to invest, then it's their loss.'

'Maybe you are right. But stealing does them no good if they refuse to use money either way.'

Ocean just shrugged.

'So what is going on?' she asked as silence crept up on us.

'We are going to Incara through Madalgry.' replied the captain. 'I'm rogue now, so I need a pilot and I need provisions. The pilot we've got. Provisions, not nearly-...'

We all jumped as my omni tool beeped. It was Garrus.

'Ah, give me sec guys.' I said, leaving the table and returning to the med-bay.

'_Min, how are things?_' asked Garrus as I answered the call. It was direct communication now.

'They are...' I tried to find a way to summarize. 'Have you...' there was no good summary. 'I'm alive.' I finished lamely.

'_That's better than I expected._' he answered, troubled. '_I don't have much time, I'm up for a hearing in a few minutes. I'm telling you this now, in case I get locked up._'

'What? Why? What happened?' I asked, alarmed at the news.

'_Just listen. Your doctor friend is a Cerberus employee. We knew that he sympathized with them but we got confirmation only a short while back. Then things started to get ugly. The Alliance soldiers were released because they were following orders. The Alliance says that Cerberus are terrorists and that you are one of their agents._'

I began to verbally formulate protests but he cut me off.

'_Don't talk. I don't care who you work for, I'm up to date with what you did on Ragdov. C-Sec had a bounty on that guy. But because you are classed terrorist, you're not about to collect it. Now I have word that the captain of the Khan is an ex-pirate. And that you are still with him. Min, this guy is dangerous. The file says that he worked alongside drug lords, warlords, gangs and many other criminal bastards. The only reason that he was released was because some Earth organization vouched for him. Get away from him as fast as you can. Get away and go to Ilium. There you will __meet a turian called-..._'

'Garrus, it's alright. I know that he was a pirate. He's one of the good guys. I think. He's not as bad as you seem to think, at any rate-...'

'_He is a conman, one of the best. If nothing else then the fact that he's fooled you proves that. How do you think he managed to get out of the Purgatory, one of the most secure prisons in the galaxy? He will stop at nothing to make his ends._' cut Garrus in angrily.

'I know that.' I smiled at Garrus. It was weird to see him care so much. 'That's why I'm with him.' I looked at the door to make sure that it was closed. 'Look Garrus. I'm taking on the Alliance. They want me dead or gone. And I don't want them to have me dead. And being gone is very difficult, seeing how they assume that everything is theirs. I can't take them on alone. He has clashed with them and survived. In fact, he has a crew and a ship that belongs to the Alliance.'

Garrus looked puzzled at this news.

'_You want to take the Alliance "on"? As in a war? You realize that you can just come to some human world and get a fair trial. From then on, all you have to do is stay away form the Citadel._' he shook his head.

I sighed. This had occurred to me many times before.

'Garrus... my options are limited. If I go to the trial... I don't want to go to a prison. And if I get away then I'm a mark on someone else's hit-list. Right now I have a ship, a criminal boss, a conman, Cerberus, daughter of Benezia and you helping me. I will also possess a very powerful item very soon. Two, if I'm lucky. If I make peace with the Alliance legally then all I will have is the word of Alliance on my side and Liara. You will be sent to do some tedious desk work, Ocean, the captain, will stay away from the Alliance. I will be a mark on Cerberus's list. And on the Flaming Path's list. And I'll bet you anything that Toboe won't forget me.'

Garrus sighed.

'_You're not making your life easier, you know that?_' he rubbed his temples, thinking. '_I'll tell them what you just told me. The investigation is closed, but this is a different case now. Let's see how this plays out._'

He hung up. I took a deep breath to compose myself. Every time I thought of what I was doing. Of what my ultimate goal was I panicked. The truth was that I'd gotten in over my head a long time ago. And now I'm gathering things to keep me afloat. But I was certain that, when the time for the face-off came, I would be standing victorious.

'... which is why I never intended to go there myself. Now that I think about it, my pirating days and my few Alliance months didn't really differ. I've taken out as many pirates back in my speedy days.' Ocean was saying.

'You could have started your own gang.' said Liara, looking very suspicious.

'No. No I couldn't.' Ocean said, genuinely surprised. 'I only had the one ship that was superior. I'd gotten some others, a bit rubbish really, ships. They were just for show, but I'd never make a gang. Too complicated.' then he spotted me. 'Speaking of complicated.'

'Garrus says hi.' I said as I sat down.

'Who?' frowned Ocean.

'The C-Sec officer who told me where to find you.'

Ocean was silent for a moment.

'Who?'

'Just some turian.' I shook my head.

'Oh. Well what did he want?'

'To say that the Alliance are not backing off. I'm officially declared a Cerberus agent.' I shrugged as if this was of no importance. And, to be realistic, it wasn't. Not if Ocean got his wish through.

'Heavy.' sighed Ocean. 'You know, you could probably get an easy charge, like gardening or death if you just went there and told them the story.' he mused, scratching his stubble.

'I'd still be on hit lists.' I pointed out.

'Ah, well... yes you would. If you'd stayed away from Omega it wouldn't be as bad though.'

I contemplated this. The more I tried to get out of the mess the more I got entwined in it. Though to be fair, I wasn't all that eager to leave yet.

'So once and for all.' said Liara, slightly annoyed. 'Where are we going?'


	11. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Madalgry

_An angel. People shouting at me. Screams of the innocent. But I have to hurry because there is so much to do. The screams force me to look away for a second but I cannot spare them any time yet. There is a future to lay, I cannot dwell on the past. But the screams do not stop. I pray for some silence. But that is an illusion. Noise is everywhere, even if you are deaf. Noise. The screams mean nothing to me now. And I cannot spare them any time nor thought if I want the future to be built. I cannot allow my heart to weep for the past. For I am God. _

I was reading up on quarian ship design and manufacture for something relaxing to do. I'd spent every waking minute with the box, writing the the symbols in sequences to see if any made sense. None had. What we _did_ discover was that an ancient asari script resembles the scrip we are now working with. It was just possible that the primitive asari initially used some form of prothean writing. And through that we quickly found matches for most of the symbols.

The protheans had apparently used the same writing theory as the turians did. Instead of using one letter exclusively they used one sound. But in their case it was reversed. While the turians used sounds like "na, ta, da, ka, ni, mi" and "shi" the protheans used sounds like "an, at, ad, ak, in, im" and "ish".

And we found this all out thanks to Aria's ancestry. Her mother had been one of those asari "memories" that Liara had mentioned a few days back.

Basically what the box said was: "Arma itana omenmei."- side one. "Arma unokliee iherie."- side two. "Imeni uherai ocaram."- side three. "Edeateh is arai."- side four. Side five was just a drawing and side six had that mysterious spot with no pyramid on. But it did have a script saying: "Op- uro- Ai-."

I was put on translation duty, working on trying to decipher the language. And I had to admit that a linguist was probably the right person for this kind of a task and not me. I knew nothing about languages or grammar. Well, I knew articulation. But I didn't actually know any grammatical rules. I couldn't even remember what a verb was supposed to be. I assumed that it had something to do with speaking but then again, everything did.

'Alright. If my assumption is correct then this first part means something along the lines of "Gates which I see" or maybe "Eyes are the gates".' said Liara, looking up from her omni tool.

She was sitting on the bed and was surrounded by notes on different languages, words, expression and protheans.

I frowned at her.

'How do you know? Is it about side one?'

'Yes. Here, the text recovered from the temple of the Nocruua goddess in the northern part of Mormeria, the nation is today called Sinlad. Anyway, these texts predate the extinction of the protheans, being around fifty two thousand years old.'

'Wow. Fifty two? Really? That is a very long time.' I whistled. 'I mean, scripts written two thousand years ago on Earth, I mean Tellus, are almost all gone.'

'Back then asari wrote important things down on golden plates. Here...' she showed me an image of a large, round plate with rune-like markings on it. I even recognized some of them. '... and most of them are still in a very good shape. I found a reference to "merged meanings" which I think means and proves that the protheans had taken contact with the asari before they had died out and that they had brought their language to Thessia. Or maybe that we gave them our language, I cannot tell yet, though admittedly that seems unlikely.'

That was a lot to take in. The asari had survived where the protheans had failed. Actually, fifty thousand years ago mankind also existed, albeit in a very primitive and pointless form. So what the hell happened to the protheans? It didn't make sense for them to be gone. By normal, logical reasoning they should still be out and about. Or at least more ruins should be left behind. What. The. Hell.

But I knew that I wouldn't figure it out through logic. Because there was no logic. They were the dominant species. They shouldn't have vanished.

'_Girls, we're here._' said the com excitedly. It was the voice of our new pilot. His name, or nickname, was Sinus. He had offered a very vague explanation about why he wanted to be called that, and as he didn't offer any other name I had no choice but to call him Sinus.

The ship went out of FTL and I could see the planet Madalgry. I'd found out that it was a batarian planet but a peaceful one. Humans were tolerated there, if not exactly welcome, so there passed by a few Alliance trading ships now and again. The crew would get off and board the next Alliance ship that passes this planet.

'Come, come. I want to get out and have some fresh air.' I said, pulling Liara out by her arm.

'Me too.' she gasped. 'And we need to buy more things. How Ocean can travel with no extra clothes stocked just in case I have no idea.'

'You are getting spoiled.' I laughed. 'A month back you only had two extra sets of clothing with you.'

'Well at least I had _some_ extra sets of clothing. He has, let's count them, _none_.' she shook her head in mock sorrow.

While we were walking I tried to come up with a way to find out what Liara would like for her birthday.

'Do you like jewelry?' I asked casually. 'I prefer silver to gold, you know. But I guess that gold is chemically stronger.'

'Jewelry? It is... nice sometimes to feel beautiful.' she nodded, thinking. 'And personally, I think that gold is nice. I have a necklace of gold in my pack. I've never worn it but maybe I should soon. It is really pretty with a dark-red gem, or crystal hanging from it.'

'That sounds pretty expensive. I take it that it was a gift?'

'Yes. From a friend who hoped to be something more a few years back. I had only just begun my archeological profession. She helped me for a few months until duty called her away.' seeing my questioning glance she added; 'She is an Eclipse mercenary.'

I nodded. Gold was expensive. So were rubies. I wanted to ask about books and music as well, to be certain of what she liked. She'd told me that she liked mysteries and detective novels where the hero would look for clues. And that she liked classical music, steam punk and, what asari called wind music, but what actually would be folk music on Earth. I'd never have guessed that, but it did sound alright, the stuff she listened to. It surprised me that she had so many human bands as favourites. Of course, most were asari, but still. Nice to know that we are appreciated for some arts at least.

But I couldn't ask Liara about that to confirm because that would alert her. After all, she was very well aware that her birthday was coming up in a less than a fortnight.

As we walked I saw crew members packing and getting ready to leave, chatting casually between themselves.

'Is he really going to steal the ship?' and 'I wonder what he's planning next.' were popular topics.

'You need us!' I heard a female voice shouting.

'Yer' not going anywhere without engineers.' added a familiar male voice.

It seemed that Elisabeth and Martin both wanted to stay on. As we approached the scene I saw Ocean standing very alarmed at the shouting and not really sure what to do with himself.

'I told you that I cannot have you guys. You compromise me. Or my ship. Or my crew. I don't remember which one was the important one at the moment. Drinking does that. But I said that... Well I did.' he finished with a flourish.

'Then it's settled. Martin and I are staying.' said Elisabeth in a tone of finality.

'It's settled.' agreed Ocean. Then he realized what she said. 'No, wait! Unsettled! Bothered! Or distressed, but not settled!'

'Look, capn'...' said Martin firmly. '... Someone has to keep an eye on the ship. And who better than us?'

Ocean mold that over for a few moments.

'Alright. You are fired.' he nodded.

'I'm... sorry?' frowned Elisabeth.

'Well, I mean that you are hired... by me. But fired by Alliance.' he said vaguely, rolling his hands in the air.

'Oh. Oh thank you captain.' beamed Elisabeth. 'Hi Min. Liara.' she nodded as they went past us, to the mess.

Ocean was frowning worriedly in their direction.

'You don't trust them?' I asked.

'No, no. It's not that. I'm just worried that they will stop trusting me.' he raised his eyebrows for effect. 'I mean... you two have no choice in the matter. And Sinus is crazy. But those two...'

I could see what he meant. If they stopped trusting Ocean's judgement they'd be a liability. But then again I was certain that they wouldn't turn on him, no matter his decision. I didn't know why, I just knew it. Was it foolish to trust like that? Yeah. Ah well.

'Don't worry.' I shrugged. 'We'll all keep in line.'

'What line? Where?'

'I mean, we're all behind you.' I rolled my hands around in the air in a kinda-sorta way.

He turned to looked around and then grinned.

'No you're not. I have no time for your games, I have duty to be busy with.' he clapped me on the shoulder and strode away in a very significant manner that told me quite plainly that he didn't know what to do now. 'Oh hey!' he exclaimed, turning around. 'I was looking for you two. Come on. We're going to meet some guys.'

We both followed him.

'Whom?' I asked.

'What?'

'Whom do you want us to meet? And how much have you been drinking?'

'Yes to the first and around nine, ten bottles to the second question... es.' he shrugged.

We left the ship and entered a very well air conditioned dock with modern and smooth advertisements, screens and seats to wait for ships that come and go. It was so very out of character for how I was feeling that I stared at everything around me. Liara had to nudge me so that I wouldn't dawdle.

Ocean walked in a very odd fashion, hastily turning from time to time and hiding behind passing elcor who were more than happy to be as big as possible to make it easier for Ocean. Liara and I simply strode along.

'What are you doing?' asked Liara perplexed.

'Nothing.' Ocean said, looking around corner as if making sure that no one was on the other side. As we turned the corner a long line of people were standing outside an ID registry, waiting to get boarding permission for whatever ship they planned to take.

'You're not doing a good job of sneaking.' I pointed out.

'No he does not.' said a voice from behind me.

I jumped, my fists at the ready, and swirled around to face the voice. I blinked when all I saw were two suits standing before me. Then the suits moved and it hit me that they were quarian. Blushing, I lowered my fists and thanked the god that no one could read my very slow mind.

'Ah..!' exclaimed Ocean with an air of doubtful joy in his voice. 'It's you..!' he frowned at the suit. 'Which one are you? I don't recognize the new suit.'

'It's us, Adii and Teishi!' said the other suit, laughing and hugging Ocean.

'Ah, I couldn't with the... you know, the suits.' Ocean shrugged awkwardly and seemed much less drunk all of a sudden. 'It looks nice.'

'Thanks.' said the male, Teishi I assumed that his name was, shaking Ocean's hand.

'I am Liara.' said Liara, shaking hands with the quarians.

'I'm Numine.' I said, shaking hands as well. 'But you can call me Min. I like Min.'

'I am Adii.' said the girl quarian and I could hear the excited smile on her voice. 'And this is mr. Boring.' she gestured towards Teishi.

'I am Teishi.' he said simply.

'Oh, ah, oh yeah.' said Ocean, snapping with his fingers. 'That's why I brought you two along.' he said to Liara. 'These two,' said Ocean, gesturing towards me and Liara, ' they are... well, they're with me. You remember Ilium?' asked Ocean. The quarians nodded. 'Well, it's like that only bigger.'

'How so?' asked Adii.

'Well... replace the two justicars with Alliance and Aria with me and that's what's going on.' said Ocean apprehensively. I could almost see the frowns on the quarians' faces. And how their jaws dropped.

'What? No way.' exclaimed Adii.

'Yes way. I've even got the ship like on Ilium.' Ocean grinned.

The quarians backed away without realizing what they were doing.

'Look, Ocean...' Teishi said, raising his hands in objection. 'You did us a favour. A great one. I don't think a non-quarian has ever done something like that for us before. But... It was hell at the time. The number of times we almost but not quite died topped the amount of birthdays between the two of us.' he indicated himself and Ocean.

'And it was exciting, wasn't it? That thrill of almost dying, fighting the odds! Join me crew again and live a life that might not be particularly long, but very full! Or stay with the Flotilla and die of some bug that crawls into your suit. I'll bet that the bug will be the most exotic thing you'll ever see.' he added the last part as an afterthought.

Everything seemed to quiet down as he stopped talking in a shocked silence. Then, to everyone's surprise, Liara slapped Ocean in the back of his head.

'Ouch! What did you do that for?' he complained.

'You insulted these two people who are clearly your friends!' she said in a tone of voice close to outrage. 'Not only that, but insulted their whole people as well!'

'I did?' Ocean asked perplexed.

'No... ' said Adii, stopped to think for a second and then added; 'No, no, no. It's not like that. He just knows us.' she looked back at Teishi and it looked to me as if they had a telepathic conversation between themselves. When Teishi finally nodded Ocean sighed in relief.

'I knew that you'd agree.' he said confidently.

'Well we can't let you loose on the galaxy with no one to hold you back from doing some of the dippier things.' Adii joked.

'Adii...' Teishi shook his head.

'Right, I know.' Adii nodded. 'So what did you do?' asked Adii as we began making our way back to the ship.

'Me?' asked Liara in confusion.

'Yes. Why is the Alliance after you?'

'It's not after Liara.' I said calmly. 'It's after Cerberus's agents. One of them in particular.'

'You're... with Cerberus? Ocean, what's going on?' asked Teishi, giving off the image of a worried frown.

'Can't we talk later about this?' growled Ocean. 'This really isn't the place and I hate to repeat myself.'

'Repeat? You'd think that we would remember it all the first time.' laughed Adii.

'Not to you. To Rael.'

'What! You want to board the Flotilla?' asked Adii, incredulous.

'Not the Flotilla.' Ocean shook his head. 'Just the Rayya.'

'You, you can't... I don't think-...'

'We do not forbid people to visit us. Especially not such a good friend to us.' said Teishi as if thinking out loud.

'But... Ocean? I mean...' Adii searched for words. 'Things blow up around him.'

'Only when he intends to blow something up.' said Teishi calmly.

It was odd, seeing him so calm after his first reaction to what Ocean had asked from them.

I tried to make out what they had been involved in. What could possibly resemble my situation. But I failed. It was hard to tell what exactly the two quarians thought of Ocean and even harder to tell what Ocean thought of them. I could, in spite of it all, feel the familiarity between them. I guessed that they hadn't started out as friends.

'So we're going to visit a quarian ship?' I asked, not quite able to mask my excitement. 'Did you know that some of the ships are as old as three hundred years? That's incredible, isn't it? I mean, that's hardy craftsmanship.'

'True. But everything is constantly being patched and repaired. You have to dig quite deep to find the three hundred years old scrap metal. You'll like the Rayya though. She is one of the strongest and fastest ships in the fleet.' said Teishi.

We were still walking towards the Khan and I could see the Alliance employees leaving it with suitcases, chatting unconcernedly with each other. I wondered how high up the career list this posting was, given that no one looked too put off about being dismissed. Or maybe they already had been posted somewhere else.

'So this is your Israa?' asked Teishi, scrutinizing the Khan.

'Yeah. She's bigger and stronger than that tin can we got last time.'

'I can see that.' nodded Adii admiringly. 'She is pretty impressive. Though black isn't the most sought-after colour nowadays.'

'The Fleet can keep it when I get back my old Khan.' said Ocean as we boarded the ship. 'There is no point in keeping a rock when you have a diamond.'

'You are planing-... To take back the Khan?' Teishi sounded again as if he was thinking out loud. 'Even though it was confiscated by the Alliance?'

'It wasn't.' Ocean shook his head. 'My old pirating buddies have it. That's where we are going. Incara.'

Adii moaned.

'Incara? That's where-...' she cut off with, what I assumed was, a glance at me. 'How much do they know?'

'Just tell them.' Ocean sighed.

'This was a long time ago. I was on my Pilgrimage then, along with Teishi. We got into some debts, hoping to win the "interstellar lottery" so to speak.' upon seeing my blank look she added; 'We were thieves.' I nodded, giving her the benefit of the doubt. 'The local thugs didn't like that quarians were taking shares of what they thought was theirs. Trouble is, Athellia is very quarian-friendly. One of the two planets where quarians are still welcome because we basically built them up from the ground. So picking on us was dangerous for the thugs. But not for the pirates. We got caught by Ocean here who held us captive long enough to realize that he didn't really like keeping people captive. At the time, Ocean was hunted by some justicar who was out to get him. And we had, by accident, stolen from another justicar's daughter. What's more, Ocean's fellow pirate ship that accompanied him had strayed for some "easy loot" and accidentally attacked a ship that transported a justicar.'

Liara's eyes were wide in amazement.

'And you are still alive?' she asked in a voice that really questioned their existence.

'Hear me out.' Adii raised her palms, waiting for attention. We were in the cockpit now, sitting in all the seats meant for piloting. Sinus was absent, probably out to get some fresh air. I had the co-pilot's seat. 'So we ran as fast as we'd ever run in our lives. The Khan did a good job on that. The whole story is too long but in summary, we trashed Nos Astra, Omega, Ipiros and Incara. Incara has the very ill-kept secret that it's a pirate base. There are more pirate organizations there than anywhere else. The only reason the justicars don't go there is because of some loophole in their oath, whatever it may be. And then we come, the Khan all but crashing into the landing bay with some of the fastest asari cruisers on our heels. The ships were useless after that chase, no ship can maintain Khan's speed for long without breaking down. But the justicars were on Incara. Three of them.'

'So what?' I interrupted. 'All you had to do was to lock them away somewhere.' I said. I didn't really get the justicars. I've seen a few vids about them, with their kung fu fighting styles and their abnormally powerful biotics and genuine magical abilities. I doubted that half of it was true, thought it did make for good vid material.

'Lock up a justicar?' said Liara quietly. 'That's like trying to stop an avalanche by trying to melt all the snow with a candle.'

'They are too strong and strategically proficient for even one of them to be caught, much less three. Whatever the stories say about the justicars working alone, these three could tag-team you with equal skill.' added Teishi.

'Essentially what happened was that we brought the justicars down on all the pirate gangs who put up a hell of a fight, gunships, explosives and mechs, all fighting the justicars. They brought one of the justicars down, but it didn't really seem to make a difference. And then, while we were running, because the justicars had found us again, the building exploded, the floor collapsed, the walls fell on us.'

Adii finished her story casually and lounged carelessly in her seat.

'Wait. What happened to the justicars.' I asked, thoroughly confused now.

'Oh one of them is still running about. The other one died of old age last year. We were at her funeral.' said Teishi.

'She died?' asked Ocean, surprised. 'I didn't know. I liked her. Even her eyelids were flappy.'

Adii grunted, Teishi and I snorted and Liara got stuck somewhere between amusement and disgruntlement.

'But what happened... you know...' I tried to set it right in my head. 'How did you not die?'

'Oh. We were almost dead. And the justicars never found our bodies. There are more secret tunnels under under Incara than there are actual buildings on top of it. They found me,' added Adii as an afterthought, 'but assumed that I was dead. Maybe I was for a time, I don't know.'

'Huh.' I said, feeling a bit put off the by the casual ending of what had been a very thrilling story. 'And... what? Wait, what does this have to do with anything?'

'You did ask us what happened, did you not?' Adii said in a flat voice.

'Oh, oh yeah!' I blushed crimson. I'd forgotten that I was the one fishing for stories.

Just then Sinus arrived. Everyone looked around to face him.

'Sinus?' asked the quarians at the same time as Sinus said 'Adii? Teishi?'

'Hey, Sinus!' Adii and Teishi exclaimed simultaneously.

'Hey, you guys!' exclaimed Sinus.

Then they froze with their arms in the air as if they had suddenly remembered that they were facing a venomous viper.

'Oh. Sinus.' growled Adii.

'Oh. It's you two.' growled Sinus. 'Why are they here, captain? Didn't we kick these two traitors out last time?' he didn't sound angry, just slightly annoyed.

'I can't believe that you let this idiot fly again.' said Teishi in flat disbelief. 'He steers the ship like a drunk walks a straight line.'

'Nose down in the pavement.' added Adii.

'Yeah, because you did sooo much better at fixing the ship when we were ready to bust our way off Ilium, did you?' said Sinus, gesticulating sarcastically.

'Says the man who crashed into the tail end of a comet!' spat Adii.

'We never crashed!' Sinus replied, shaking his head. 'It pulled at us as it went by, that's all!'

'That's all, is it? Losing all power for two weeks is nothing at all really, is it!'

'Not all, just... most of it! And what the hell took you two so long to bring it back? From what I remember you two spent hours just sitting in the mess or sleeping!'

'That's what you after two days of work and no rest! Unlike you who just strolled around all the time, complaining!'

I noticed that Ocean wasn't really paying attention to their argument and gathered that he had already heard this before. He was biting his nails thoughtfully.

'Shut up.' I said suddenly, as if a thought had struck me. I even raised a finger in anticipation. They looked at me patiently. 'Who wants coffee for the reunion?'

Though I couldn't tell I was sure that the quarians stared while they processed this new idea. Sinus seemed to roll the thought around in his head. But before any of them could reply Ocean stood.

'I think that that's a great idea. Let's go to the Rayya.' he said as if this had been an idea he'd been working on for days and now was happy to present it.

'Now?' asked Adii.

'Now. Why wait. No, hang on. You do have coffee on your ships, don't you?' asked Ocean suspiciously.

'Yes. It's a different kind of, ah, "bean" if you will, than the ones from Tellus or Tessia, but it's still roughly what you're used to.' replied Adii.

'Good. Come on, I'm not waiting for anyone.' said Ocean as if he was about to leave without the ship if it didn't hurry up. 'Min, a word.' he motioned for me to follow.

'What's up?' I asked as he led me away from the rest. The ship was empty now, with no other people on board aside from us here up at the cockpit and the engineers.

'You are a, what's it called... You're a talking person.' he frowned as if that would make more sense.

'I... do occasionally talk, yes.' I nodded.

'Great! That's good. That's just what we need. There's the other thing we need as well.' he looked at me to see if I understood what he wanted from me.

'Which is?' I prompted.

'We need a pall to come with us to Incara and help us out a bit. And it would be a good deal more help to our cause if this pall had some kind of... ship. Like the Rayya. Or maybe the Risa.'

'You want me to teal a ship from the quarians?' I raised one eyebrow.

'No! No, no, no! I want you to convince my good friend Rael to give an impression of "numbers" when we arrive on Incara, that's all.'

This really made no sense to me. At least, it didn't make sense that he asked me to do this.

'Why me? Liara's the asai, Teishi and Adii are quarians and you seem to know this Rael already. One of you should do it.'

'No. You should do it because... Well, you have that look about you.' he fidgeted uncomfortably.

'What look?'

'That look. You've been that way since the Grim. Like you're a puppy who's about to bite a lion.' he shrugged.

I had to think about this before replying. Had I looked different? Liara hadn't. She takes everything in stride. And so do I. Then why does Ocean say that I look different? I didn't know.

'Is it a good different?' I asked, frowning.

'It is the different that makes us Khan plus one.' Ocean nodded.

'Huh.'

I wondered about why I liked the word "huh" so much. It seemed to convey a lot more than it appears to do from the start. A kind of secret word that can unlock doors in people's heads.

'This is a stupid idea.' I said after a moment of silence.

'There's no way in hell that they'll come if I ask them to.' said Ocean.

'I thought that you were friendly with quarians?'

'I am. But they don't like it when their ships go "boom". They don't have enough resources for that.'

'Wait. I won't help you blow up a quarian ship.' I said in an almost threatening voice.

'That's why it's only accompanying us. It won't actually do anything.' he sighed.

'Oh.' I bit my lip. I really didn't want to do it. The thought of speaking to more people didn't appeal to me much. Talking is overrated. Communication is overrated. 'Fine.' I sighed. 'I'll try.'

'What are you whispering about?' asked Liara. 'We're in view of the Flotilla, they're going through the Relay. Did you know that it takes over a week for all the ships to go through. Apparently – the Rayya goes last most of the time to make sure that everyone are through before moving on.'

'A week? That can't be.' I frowned. 'How many ships do they have?'

'Thousands. Fifty thousand I think.' replied Ocean. 'And there's a limit to how much a relay can take in one go, so there are pauses here and there. And you can't go too many at once or you'll get stuck somewhere a million light years away from any planet or relay. And only two ships in history have ever returned from such an accident. Derelicts, but nice to know that they can come back.'

'Huh.'

I decided to use "huh" as a catchphrase. Liara has her "embrace eternity" after all.

'Well come on! I know you want to see this, Min!' said Liara, dragging me along to the cockpit.

The Flotilla was enormous. Fifty thousand space ships sounds like a lot of ships. But if you're close enough in space to actually see them they appear to be ten times more numerous.

'Wow. That's... big.' I said vaguely, not sure whom I was addressing.

'It's barely enough though.' sighed Teishi. 'We're only little more than seventeen million quarians. One ship more or less makes a huge difference.'

'Wait. Seventeen _million_ for just fifty thousand ships!' I asked, surprised. That seemed like too much. I had the image of qurians crawling on top of one another, no room or food left to give.

'Yeah. Every ship used as residential ship can handle about a good eight hundred qurians. Then you have the patrol ships with twenty to thirty crew, the engineer ships with fifteen to twenty crew, the medical centres with a good three or four hundred quarians, the "parks" with around four hundred quarians there.' Teishi counted mentally for a moment. I already had the figures. 'So it makes, in average, around three hundred and ninety qurians per ship, give or take. But the heavily occupied ones are big ones like the Mecara or the Douna with eight hundred qurians living there. And no ship carries skeleton crews either.'

I nodded. This did seem a bit easier, though the Khan had had a crew of fifty men and women before Ocean dropped them off and it had seemed like a big crew. Though, come to think of it, a good two hundred would fit on the Khan before the life support became hard to manage. The only issues would be toilets and beds. And food and water, of course.

'Is that that Rio?' I asked, pointing at the ship which we seemed to have a course towards.

'Rayya.' corrected Adii. 'I was born there. It's not a medical centre, but most ships have sterile rooms for giving birth.'

My head began to hurt. The quarians were so radically different from humans that I had a hard time believing in them, in spite of the two quarians standing next to me.

'Sterile rooms for giving birth?'

'Yes. We are born with poor immune systems, so we have to keep away from anything that could possibly be contagious.' explained Adii.

'How poor exactly? I mean, if I sneezed-...' I began.

'Then I could die from it.' said Adii. Her voice was serious.

'That bad?' my heart had sunk into my stomach. How horribly terrifying it must be. To be trapped in a suit for your entire life, the only other option being death... It occurred to me that, this is how the volus must feel as well. But they can at least go back to their homeworld and be themselves there. The quarians... Oh god, the quarians didn't have the resources to go back to their homeworld. I felt an irrational panic at the thought that the galaxy was so extremely careless to the point of a severe, sadistic pleasure at seeing the quarians being forced to live like this. The Council didn't understand that they weren't saving the lives of their fleets and soldiers by not killing all the Geth on the quarina homeworld. They were dooming the quarians to a life that is as bad as captivity.

Only a second had passed while I was having my epiphany.

'Well, I might simply get a very nasty cough and headache or infection of some sort. You never really know for sure until you try it out.' replied Adii in her usual easy voice.

I wanted to shake her and make her see what was going on.

'But why hasn't anyone helped to reclaim your world?' I asked in a kind of horrified whisper.

'I don't know.' shrugged Teishi. 'If you ever find out, give me a call. I'd love to know why we're constantly too close to losing one of the ships and hundreds of lives with it.'

'It is a big risk...' said Adii, laying her hand soothingly on Teishi's shoulder. 'The Council cannot just send ships to their deaths for this.'

'Of course they can!' I growled. 'They do it all the time. Only not to help anything in particular.'

Liara looked at me wonderingly but I didn't say anything. I felt... betrayed. As if I was one of the quarians. No. I felt as if my idea of the Council being a civilized group of aliens who made and upheld the law and order of the galactic community was gone. Now, all I saw was people who were too greedy and frightened to see the bigger picture. Who forgot that the laws are there to make life simpler for common people, not for their own gain nor to complicate actions people take.

My head began throbbing terribly. The plan I had made to get rid of my "terrorist" status was altering in my head without me really giving it any actual motivation or thought. It was like an instinct.

'Oh.' I had to sit down.

'Are you well?' asked Liara immediately. 'Min?'

'I'm fine. We've been too engrossed in the black box for too long. My head hurts.' I smiled calmly. It didn't seem to lessen Liara's agitation.

'You look very pale. More than usual.' she said, looking very worried.

'Look, I'm fine! Don't worry.' I even stood up to demonstrate that I was fine.

Then a message sounded through the speakers.

'_We have you flagged Alliance, vehicle class doesn't show up. Please identify yourselves._'

'The anveer and the laska dance the dance of fire and ice which ends in death. The People are dancing the dance again.' replied Adii.

'_Welcome, Adii M'rean nar Rayya and Teishi M'rean vas Rayya. You didn't forget to buy the hard disc, did you? Because we can't run vids with no space, now can we kids?_'

The voice, which had started off very formally, ended with a casual and joking tone.

'Keep your mind on your job, Henor.' said Teishi simply.

'_Fine. A cleaning team will meet you guys._' Henor replied grumpily.

Only now did I notice the shopping bags that the quarians carried. One contained things like food oil and seasoning while the other contained machine oil and plastic bits that might be the hard discs.

'We didn't realize you'd ask us to go with you.' said Teishi, noticing where I was looking.

'Yeah. Usually we send a shuttle down to get things, but Maldagry doesn't allow quarian ships to dock. Or shuttles for that matter.' Adii said sourly.

'Then how did you get here?' I asked, perplexed.

'Maldagry transportation services. A taxi.'

This did nothing to make me feel better. I had to bite my tongue in order not to tell them that I'd do all in my power to change the fate of the quarians. It was a stupid thought and a stupid feeling. I couldn't change anything even if I tried.

'How can you live like this?' I asked instead, again in a whisper that only Teishi heard.

'What else can we do?' he said, turning away and following Ocean.

The Rayya was a very nice ship indeed, with potted plants in every corner, paintings on the walls for decoration and quarian music playing on the speakers. Had I not known better I'd have assumed that this ship was no older than one, maybe two service years old. All the humans and the asari were wearing enviro suits as well, Teishi insisting that he wasn't sure we would survive without them. So now I had to wear a suit that made me look like some sewer diver. Damn.

We were greeted by a team of quarians, with weapons at their holsters. No one seemed remotely ready to fire though.

Teishi and Adii simply walked on into the ship.

'Rael will come and speak with you soon enough.' said Teishi before they left out of sight.

'You wish to speak with Rael?' asked one of the quarians levelly.

'Yes.' I nodded, as Ocean nudged me in the small of my back. 'We want to ask a favour of him.'

'Huh. So who are three, anyways?'

'I am captain Becket and this is my crew.' said Ocean as if announcing the arrival of God himself. Or herself, depending on your belief.

'Sinus.' said Sinus, glaring at Ocean.

'I am Elisabeth and this is Martin. We are engineers aboard the Khan.' smiled Elisabeth through her breathing mask.

They had insisted on coming along to see the quarian ship with their own eyes and according to Teishi, numbers of people wouldn't matter once they were inside.

'Well, you can step on in. I'm not here to detain you.' laughed the guard. 'We're just here to keep an eye on the seals.' he pointed at the door to the passage between the Khan and the Rayya.

'Oh. We'll... we'll enter then.'

'This is a nice ship.' said Sinus appreciatively. 'Quarians know what they're doing, I'll give them that.'

'Thank you.' replied a dry voice from the far end of the hall.

Two quarians stood there, looking at us in what was almost appraisal. I was certain that it had to be the captain of this ship.

'It is nice to meet a friend of the quarians.' the quarian added, approaching Ocean and shaking his hand. 'Teishi tells me that you want to speak to me of some matter. I am Rael Zorah vas Rayya.'

Ocean nudged me painfully in the ribs to speak.

I cleared my throat hastily.

'Will out host not ask us to make ourselves comfortable?' I asked in what I hoped was amusement rather than fear.

'Ah, where are my manners!' Rael laughed. 'And I forgot to introduce my daughter as well.'

'I am Tali.' she said, shaking Ocean's hand firmly, but not looking to either direction.

Clearly, she was well practiced in speaking to people though she didn't seem to like doing so outright before knowing their intent. Ocean must have caught that too, because he glanced at Liara for a second and shook his head.

'Come, let's sit in the commons. There's plenty of comfort there.'

Rael led us into the ship towards what could almost be an arcade hall, only there were no arcade games. Instead, there were panels and monitors that displayed all parts of the ship's components. But they were all neatly fastened to the walls and left a lot of room for the dozen or so tables and a buffet table. I noticed that none of the foods seemed to be solid and my heart sank.

We sat at one of the tables, speaking pleasantries in the age-old banter rules that had to be satisfied before we could start talking business. We complemented the quarian ship and they complemented Ocean's bravery, whatever it had been, and joked that, if the justicars gave up on him, he must have been a dreadful pirate.

'Now then.' Rael said finally. 'What is that you came here for?'

Before Ocean could nudge me again I cleared my throat for attention.

'We are in a bit of a predicament here.' I began, cursing myself for not having come up with a good speech beforehand. 'Liara and I. And we need to go somewhere that's almost-but-not-quite safe for a lone Alliance ship to travel. And then, when we arrive, you guys can get this ship while we leave in another one. The catch is that we need a good dozen or so ships with us.'

'You wish to take a dozen quarian ships with you?' asked Rael in mixed surprise and disgruntlement.

'Only to Incara and back. They won't have to actually do anything. Just fly there, hover for an hour or so, take the Khan, this Khan...' I gestured vaguely towards the Alliance ship. '... and go back to the Flotilla.'

Rael look at me shrewdly.

'Is that so? That simple?' he said, frowning. Or I thought that he frowned. I wasn't even sure whether he had eyebrows. 'Why?'

'Why what?'

'Why would you simply give this ship to us for a trip there and back. There has to be more to it.'

'We won't need this ship after we reach Incara.' I said, soothingly, before he could become any more suspicious. 'The Khan we're after is too fast for this one to be of any genuine use.'

There was a silence as Rael pondered this.

'What do you think?' he addressed Tali after a while.

'About what? I can't see them stealing the dozen ships. And if they leave then we lose a ship we never expected to have anyway.' Tali shrugged.

Rael nodded slowly.

'There is a certain reputation to captain here.' he inclined his head towards Ocean. 'That whenever he asks for help, things go very wrong. And there is no guarantee that a dozen ships will be enough to scare pirates away.' he added with a sharp glance at... one of us. 'I know very well who's hiding under Incara's surface.'

'Last I checked, about three months ago, they had less than a dozen ships themselves. Even if they managed to get twenty or thirty of them, they won't look for a fight against a dozen quarian ships led by an Alliance one.' intervened Ocean. 'And from what I've seen of your ships, any one of them is as good as two or three of theirs. Plus, you have the knowledge of ships that the pirates lack!'

'So you admit that there is a chance for a fight then? A real one? One to which you've already formulated a strategy?' Rael said sharply. 'No, I am sorry, but I cannot help you. I truly cannot.' he added sincerely.

'The quarians have a debt to Ocean. Will you ignore this one bond of honour?' I asked in what seemed to be an awfully disgusted voice. I hadn't meant to sound like that.

'Father... I really don't think that anything will happen. He is right. If we send some of our battle-ready ships there is no danger to us nor them. And we will get a new ship in return.' urged Tali.

'Very well. I... don't like this. But I see the wisdom of your words.' agreed Rael. 'A fifteen ship company will follow you to Incara. There you will take what you came for and leave Incara.' he rubbed his temples as if in pain. 'And Ocean... do your very utmost not to provoke a confrontation.'

'Don't fret, Rael. I can play nice when I need to.'

Rael almost groaned.

'Ah, father?' Tali nudged Rael as if to remind him of something.

'Yes?'

'Can I come with-...'

'No! You are too young. You don't leave for your Pilgrimage for three years yet. I'd rather that you didn't leave the Flotilla until then.' Rael cut in sharply.

'Yes father.' Tali put as much false meekness as she possibly could into the words much like the mockery of a slave's' behaviour.

'Good.' nodded Rael, not really caring about the tone as long as she agreed. 'Will you depart now or..?'

'I think that Min wants to see more of the ship.' said Liara to no one in particular. 'And I wouldn't mind staying either.'

'I can give you guys a tour.' said Teishi, entering the room from the door opposite to the one we entered through.

Though at first glance the ship had seemed very powerful and modern, now that I could have a look around the whole thing, I could see subtle signs of age. A bit of wiring that didn't match the rest, older versions of transmitters and boosters coupled with newer ones, transistors that were so hot that electromagnetic fields had been raised around them, or some that simply had to be used as tesla coils because no one dared to touch it with wires. But in spite of all this it was a very effective ship. The quarians could do some pretty amazing things with scrap metal. Or, Teishi insists that most of it is scrap metal and tries to point out to me all the things that are, to him, obviously old and scrappy. But I couldn't see it that way.  
Also, I found out that most of the stuff on the extranet I've read was badly outdated. Things about mass effect integrated into internal propulsion systems for better "flock" handling was old news and newer drives had been installed that surpass the original ones. The flock handling system was, perhaps, unique in all the fleets on the whole galaxy. The theory behind them was that a whole flock of ships could easily navigate without constant updates from pilot to pilot about new routes to be taken. Instead, the cores of the ships worked in a unison, affecting mass from an external point but on an internal level. A good example of this would be something like a river. No matter how many boats you put on it, if there is a stream, they will follow it automatically. And if the river turns, so do all the boats. And seeing how the quarian Flotilla is humongous, that trick is particularly useful. The only time this is turned off is when going through a relay, in order for the ships to go though in one piece, rather than parts for the quarians to assemble, scattered through space and, as some quarians theorize, time.

'So what do you think?' asked Teishi as we finished the tour. 'Is it as horrible as you thought it would be?'

'It's as impressive as I thought it would be, yes.' I smiled. Then remembered that the helmet I wore didn't show my mouth. 'There's something I want to ask you though.'

'Yes?

'The drones – the holographic things that fly about...'

'Yes?'

'Where did you-... How do you do them? Is it a special program you need to get or... what?'

The drones were something I'd seen only once before, when a group of Alliance engineers had come to help us set up the turret towers. They had used holographic drones to help attach pieces of metal and the like with electric bursts. I'd been too young to be certain that what I had seen was in fact drones, but today my suspicions had been confirmed.

'Aha, the techie drones.' nodded Teishi. 'Yes, it's an omni tool upgrade. It's a weak kinda field that takes the form of-...' he pressed a button on his omni tool and a silver and red orb appeared before us. '... a kind of drone.'

'It's what we did to that shuttle after Ragdov.' I mused. I sensed Liara nodding from somewhere behind me.

'Sorry?' asked Teishi, looking from whatever he was doing to his omni tool.

'Oh nothing.' I shrugged.

'There.' Teishi exclaimed after a minute. 'Accept.' he added as my omni tool made a beeping noise, telling me that someone was transmitting me a file.

It was only a little of twenty gigabytes large.

'This is the drone?' I asked to make sure.

'Yes. The basic engine along with all the upgrades I've done for it myself over the years to make it more "life like"'

I stared at him.

'Not in an AI sort of way!' he raised his hands defensively, laughing. 'Just a touch of... vanity.'

As soon as Liara and I had gotten the program started I knew what he meant. The first thing the drone did was to ask me about how my day was. Every sound from my omni tool went to my ear piece, so only I could hear the conversation we had and the same went for Liara.

'You can customize the colour and it's power settings. The omni tool can sustain it for only so long. The best my omni tool can do is a little over two days straight. And it runs of the suit's battery. I'm guessing that you have about, say, a quarter of an hour until it needs to gather strength again.'

I quickly went over the settings, gave up and decided to give the drone a verbal command.

'Change colour.' instantly a window appeared on the drone's display. A variety of colours, ultraviolet and all it's shades were included for drell and hanar eyes, were displayed on it. 'Red.' I said.

It became red. Not the calm and soothing red of a fine wine or a dark-red rose, but the red of a sports shuttle.

'Darker.'

Now it had the right idea. A vague thought saying that it looked like a levitating drop of blood strolled through my mind, but I shushed it.

'I'll name you... Kami.' I decided. It seemed like a good name. What was the point of modesty after all?

'See, I knew that these upgrades would be usable.' laughed Teishi. 'I'm actually planing on going public with them. You know, earn some extra credits for the Flotilla.'

'These aren't publicly available yet?' Liara asked in surprise. 'Goddess knows I've seen a lot of them on Ilium.'

'I mean the speaking and the colour changing parts. It's not as easy as it looks to program a holographic interface to change it's appearance on the command of a word. I didn't sleep for months, writing this particular change. Whoever had made them didn't want anyone to change them.' Teishi sounded proud of his success. I wasn't really surprised that he had been the one to do it. Quarians were great engineers and just as good programmers to keep their ships in check. They had created the AI who had then taken over their world for crying out loud. And for a second, I did want to do just that. But I could see no way to help the quarians short of appealing to the Council.

Maybe I should just take my pride, stuff it somewhere and go to the Alliance? Maybe I should just quit while my luck is still working.

'Min. We're leaving now. You staying on the Rayya or coming with me?' asked Ocean.

Or maybe I should just hang onto this one life and see how it plays out.


	12. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Inside the net

'Ambassador.' Udina said, entering the ambassador's office. For all the respect his voice held, his posture and facial expression failed to reflect it.

'Please sit yourself.' Rebecca motioned towards the chair across from her. She disliked when people stood up and spoke. One of the main reasons for why she had mr Toboe and mr Udina doing all the talking for her when it came to the Council.

'I'd rather-...' Udina began.

'Sit.'

He sat.

'Now then. What can I do for you?' Rebecca asked in her patient and stern voice that had made even the crude turian Councillor fidget.

'I need to know, and don't bullshit me this time...' he glared at the ambassador like he had never dared before. '... I need to know why you are giving Toboe free reins to set any charges he wishes against the Akuze girls. Whatever he may or may not think and find out about them, there is no solid evidence that they are Cerberus. In fact, Shepard is one of the best marines we've got. Shin'ichi is one of the brightest girls in the Alliance. What are you playing at?'

Rebecca sighed. This was not his first time asking, though he had never shown any signs that he disagreed with her until now.

'The Shin'ichi girl has been seen on Omega in the company of Becket and the "missing" ship designed for espionage. Shepard has admitted to having recieved messages from the Illusive man personally-...'

'She says, and I believe her, that it is nothing more than a ploy! A ploy to make us think what you are thinking.'

'Or maybe...' growled the ambassador. She despised being interrupted. '... things are exactly what they seem to be. Have you considered that maybe Cerberus isn't bullying them?'

'What about Akuze? Why did a ship under Toboe's command fire with no official Alliance authorization then?' Udina growled back. The ambassador was unused to seeing him aim his anger at her. 'Why did we not receive the information about it until a week, a _week_ after it had happened? And what is Toboe playing at, jailing a doctor with a reputation like that?'

Rebecca sighed.

'You are a clever man Udina, but you look only one step ahead. Toboe takes into consideration all of the parties that might be dangerous.'

'Akuze. You avoid my questions.' Udina urged.

'I have no obligation to answer you pestilential questions!' snapped the ambassador. 'And I will only answer them to make you see sense, unless you want to be demoted.'

'... Very well.' Udina nodded.

'The ship had Toboe's authorization to fire, which is as high an authorization it needs to do so. At least one of the ships was an enemy vessel, the stolen Alliance ship. And we suspect that the other one was Cerberus, which by the way, further proves that they are working for the enemy.'

The ambassador looked at Udina with a scrutinizing gaze, waiting for whatever else he had come to ask in a manner that suggested that he had already won.

'And the testimony of the turian?' Udina said in a level voice. 'Does it count for nothing that one of the C-Sec operatives had given his account of events, which happen to make perfect sense and coincide with what we know for a fact.'

'No matter how honourable the turians are, there is nothing to stop them from lying. And the monetary exchange between himself and Shin'ichi the first week after her disappearance is more than just a hint at the fact that he is in her pocket.'

'Why would they work with Cerberus!' exclaimed Udina in exasperation, standing up without seeming to realize it. 'This girl, this Shin'ichi lived on Akuze most of her life and I doubt that she knew anything about the Cerberus.'

'Yet she is the only civilian to survive a failed Cerberus experiment. And Shepard is the only one to survive out of all the marines.' the ambassador raised one eyebrow. 'The evidence are substantial. There is no doubt.' the ambassador glared at the man until he calmed down. 'I understand how you feel. But it is not I who made them Cerberus agents.' she said sympathetically.

'I understand.' said Udina.

Inside, however, he was fuming. It was true that he and Shepard had been at each other's throats since the beginning of her career, from the slums of London to the position as a marine on a star ship. But branding the woman traitor and sending her and a fully manned ship to patrol the most dangerous edges of the Skyllian Verge just to keep her out of sight until a court could condemn her to death or imprisonment while she was away and blissfully unaware of the events going on was not just cruel. It went against everything the Alliance stood for.

He didn't even bother saying goodbyes to the ambassador. He simply strode away, hurrying home. He knew what he had to do, no matter how dangerous it would be.

'Anderson.' he said into his com as soon as he was home.

His apartment had anti bugging devices installed everywhere in the house. It would be hard to overhear what he was saying even if someone put their ear to the door.

'_Yes? Who is this?_' asked a voice, surprise clear in it's tone.

'I am Udina, head of intelligence and police of the Alliance here at the citadel.'

'_Ah yes, mr Udina. What can I do for you?_'

'How well do you know Shepard?'

There was a silence where, Udina was sure, Anderson considered the question.

'_I know her well enough. Why?_'

'She is being accused of collaborating with the infamous terrorist organization Cerberus. I, for one, doubt this accusation highly. However the evidence all point towards-...'

'_What do you need me to do?_'

'I need you to contact Shepard and come to the Citadel as fast as you can. And bring her along. The trial will be held and if she is not here to defend herself, I can't see a happy ending to all of this.'

There was another silence.

'_I will. Thank you for the information._' Anderson said sincerely.

'I am doing what is right. Now hurry, man. We have too little time left.'

He hung up, not bothering with the affirmatives. Now he had just one more thing to do. He needed to find out where Shin'ichi was and tell her to get her runaway behind back to the Citadel before she made this any worse.

'What's this, Udina?' said a dangerous voice.

Udina spun to face the man who had just appeared from the shadows of his book shelves.

'Are you going against the decision of the ambassador and informing the traitor of the trial? Complicating the matter further with your political plots to gain power?'

Toboe sounded merely curious but his voice had an edge of triumph about them.

'Ambassador's decision, was it?' Udina growled. 'Or yours? You've been pulling strings since this shenanigans started! What is your game, Toboe?'

'My game? Oh dear. That sounds like an accusation. But I don't think that I need bother answering that. Because you are under arrest.'

'Is that so?' Udina thundered and for a second the smug confidence broke on Toboe's handsome face. But it was back almost instantly.

'It is so. I have evidence of you aiding a known terrorist. And this "Anderson" as well.' Toboe sighed theatrically. 'I guess that I have no choice but to call in the C-Sec to have you arrested. And that Alliance chit as well when she arrives.'

'So what's the plan? To pull strings and make a fortune?' spat Udina. He knew very well that there was no way out of this for him now. Not unless either Shepard or Shin'ichi were cleared of charges.

'I wouldn't be likely to tell you now would I?' sneered the man.

And then the door burst open, with C-Sec officers standing at the ready.

'This man here is a traitor.' said Toboe in a shaky voice, pointing stupidly towards Udina. 'I have proof of him contacting Shepard, plotting no doubt.'

As the C-Sec officers led Udina away he could hear the soft laughter coming from Toboe.

What was more – he could see a woman standing in the shadows, her face looking daggers at Toboe. Udina smiled grimly. So maybe he did have a chance to get out of this before Shepard was convicted.


End file.
